طائرة بوينج 767 تابعة لطيران ايرومكسيكو تتعرض لضربة ذيل

An Aeromexico Boeing 767-200, registration XA-TOJ performing flight AM-2 from Madrid,SP (Spain) to Mexico City (Mexico), was rotating for takeoff from Madrid's runway 36L when the tail of the aircraft contacted the runway surface leaving debris behind. The crew continued the takeoff and climb, levelled off and descended after the oxygen masks were released, then entered a hold to burn off fuel and returned to Madrid for a safe landing about 90 minutes after departure. Two cabin crew received injuries, the aircraft sustained substantial damage.

An Air Europa Airbus A330 departing after the Aeromexico received nose gear tyre damage while departing over the debris left by the Boeing and needed to return, too, see Incident: Air Europa A332 at Madrid on Apr 16th 2013, damaged nose gear tyres on takeoff.

The airport reported two cabin crew received neck injuries (mainly bruises) from their seat belts as result of impact forces.

The airline confirmed the aircraft suffered a tailstrike on takeoff and returned to Madrid for a safe landing. The safety of passengers was not at risk at any time. The airline is cooperating with the investigation authorities.

Spain's CIAIAC is investigating the accident and resulting tyre damage incident.

An observer on the ground reported that the aircraft was rotating for takeoff about abeam of the fire station about 1900-2000 meters down the runway (runway length 4350 meters), the nose gear and main gear lifted off the runway but the aircraft did not climb, instead the tail contacted the runway for about 4 seconds before the aircraft started slowly to climb. The observer believed to have seen some smoke from the tail while it contacted the runway. Following the event the observer could not see any runway inspection.

A passenger reported the takeoff appeared normal initially until the aircraft began to rotate, the nose lifted up, however, nothing happened. The nose dropped again, then rose very sharply perhaps because of the runway end becoming visible. A sound of impact was heard from the back of the cabin followed by scratching sounds, that lasted for about 5 seconds, then the aircraft began to climb. During the initial climb the aircraft was shaking, the right wing dropped which the passenger, frequent traveller, perceived as unusual. The aircraft continued to climb heading north out of the Madrid area, no announcements were made. Passengers in the back of the cabin reacted confused and increasingly alarmed with no announcement made by the crew. Several minutes into the flight the passenger oxygen masks dropped (see photo below) together with the announcement "put on your mask and breath normally", the aircraft obviously stopped the climb and rapidly descended, a short time later an announcement "10,000 feet" was heard, cabin crew announced passengers could not remove their masks, the cockpit announced now they were returning to Madrid but provided no reason. The aircraft landed back in Madrid and taxied straight to the gate, the passengers disembarked normally. The passenger was able to see terrible damage to the tail of the aircraft, the right hand main gear tyres had deflated. The passenger had not seen any damage inside the aircraft. They were offered accomodation over night and were rebooked onto other flights via other European cities connecting to Mexico City the following day.

Air Traffic Control reported the aircraft climbed out without any comment, later into the departure climb the crew indicated they had cabin pressure problems and needed to return to Madrid. There was no mention of the possibility of a tail strike and no mention of injuries on board. The tower controller had not been able to see the tail contact the runway surface about 4km from his position, between the Aeromexico and Air Europa there were a few other departures without any problems.