Aviation Photo #0632272 Boeing 777-2H6/ER - Malaysia Airlines

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Well this is what we don't get to see that much in ZRH. What a lucky pic I made there.
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    Thomas Luethi
    Malaysia Airlines
    Boeing 777-2H6/ER
    Boeing 777-200
    Boeing 777-200
    Boeing
    28417
    222
    9M-MRJ
    Zurich (- Kloten)
    Switzerland
    July 28, 2004
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Distinct Views: 1,387,366
Photo Added: August 03, 2004

Comments (69)

Anonymous
17 years ago
Great picture! A tailstrike is always impressive...Especially under that angle of view.
Anonymous
17 years ago
Wow!
Anonymous
17 years ago
Once in a lifetime shot :) OUCH!
Anonymous
17 years ago
One in the million!
Anonymous
17 years ago
Great shot! Really impressive tailstrike.
Anonymous
16 years ago
Nice photo
Anonymous
16 years ago
Crazy pilot haha!!
Anonymous
15 years ago
Ouch, must've been a bumpy ride for the passengers.
Anonymous
15 years ago
What a great shot you made here!
Anonymous
15 years ago
Tail strike with no left gear

man talk about double trouble dang thats a lot of repairs there
New South Wales, Australia
4 years ago
I think left gear is out, just can't see it easily
Anonymous
15 years ago
I can bet a couple of passengers had whiplash after this...
Anonymous
15 years ago
This is a very rare shot . Probably once in a lifetime .
Anonymous
15 years ago
Left main is down just hard to see, still a noisy tail strike I'm sure
Anonymous
15 years ago
Very good pic,came in to fast to me flap what!i wonder how bad was the damage!
Anonymous
15 years ago
The plane must have said oooouch
Anonymous
15 years ago
It does in fact have a left gear.
Anonymous
15 years ago
Very good photo !!!

was it takeoff or landing ?
Anonymous
15 years ago
Oh Oh :O somebody had lose his job!
Anonymous
15 years ago
Considering the lack of flaps, I'd say Takeoff. Also, i've never seen a plane flare that much on landing.

Nevertheless, a great picture!
Anonymous
3 years ago
But they're not far down the runway at all.
Anonymous
15 years ago
Scratch one Bogey!
Anonymous
15 years ago
A tailstrike! I hope nobody was injured and this nice 777 not too hard damaged.
Anonymous
14 years ago
Take off or landing, no flaps is the reason for this tailstrike. Pilot needs to go back to the old, beat up C-172 at flying school! This might be a training or test flight, though.
Anonymous
14 years ago
Hey all! Thanks for all the comments and some Infos: this incident happened during take off run from runway 16 in Zurich it went over the german black forest to dump 70t of fuel and emergency landed on Runway 14 with all the fire brigade standing by.

Thomas Luethi
Anonymous
14 years ago
When they build an aircraft and the have to find out the V-loft, they always do this!!! excellent picutre by the way, a once in a life time picture!
Anonymous
14 years ago
TAILSTRIKE!!!!! That can't be good for the plane... See the (maybe) BAe 146/Avro RJ to the right side???

Great shot!!!
Anonymous
14 years ago
The pilot of the Boeing 777 Malaysia Airlines is courageous huh? He landed the plane virtually (if it was not well) by dragging the back on the track. There are hours in cold blood.
Anonymous
14 years ago
Thank you for this photo.
Anonymous
14 years ago
Good job! nice pic
Anonymous
14 years ago
Really good photograft
Anonymous
14 years ago
Think of the jarring thimp when the front wheels contacted
Anonymous
14 years ago
If you sit on the back of the plane ..
Anonymous
14 years ago
Good work, sour bum for them at the back
Anonymous
14 years ago
When I was flight attendant I was sitting in the rear part of the aircraft during a tailstrike. It was a "good" experience!!!
Anonymous
14 years ago
First i thought, it was a no flap landing, but if you look closer on the planes left wing, you can see that it has about 20 degrees of flap(i think) :-D so missing flaps isnt was causes the tailstrike
Anonymous
14 years ago
This photo was a once in a lifetime shot. I have been in the industry for over 20 yrs and have never seen this, awesome!
Anonymous
14 years ago
Haha nice, only the 77 is sexy enough to bang ole mother earth. Thats what i call a risky quicky :)
Anonymous
13 years ago
As an a&p I love unusual photos of aircraft, either because of the composition or lighting, or just what the plane is doing. great job catching it at the right moment.
Anonymous
13 years ago
"How to make a bad day worse." Wow! I've never seen any airliner, let alone a 777, make a 3-point landing! It looks like the leading and trailing edge flaps are in transition as though the crew realized too late that they weren't down. Some guys find out about the back side of the power curve the hard way. Goes to show that just because you've handled an emergency (fuel dumping mentioned in another comment) doesn't mean your problems are behind you.
Anonymous
13 years ago
Flaps look to be extending. Time for this pilot to repeat his Private Pilot training course.haha
Anonymous
13 years ago
Great photo!
Anonymous
13 years ago
"V1." "Ok, rotating. Hmm, she no take off. Rotating some more. She still on ground. Rotating some MORE. Hey, what's that vibration? Ummm, how come flaps are zero? Oh, $@%&!!!!!"
Anonymous
13 years ago
Whoa!Great shot!Are this take off or landing? Real good shot!Rare photo man!

Rafael Dinelli
Anonymous
13 years ago
Gives new meaning to the word "tail-dragger".
Anonymous
13 years ago
I'm guessing he came back to the airport for an emergency landing full with fuel. The Vref (final approach speed) for a landing at max takeoff weight can be VERY high, like 180 knots or more. The flight computer will only extend the flaps if you are below the safe speed for that flap setting. The pilot probably had flaps 40 selected, but the speed was too high and the computer wouldn't let it happen. Ideally, if you have the time, you want to dump fuel. This will give you a good (slow) Vref for final and allow a slow enough speed for full flaps.
Anonymous
13 years ago
This is NOT a landing!!! Look at the left landing gear (our perspective). It hasn't made contact with the ground yet, therefore the gear should still be in its angled idle position as is the norm for all 777's. Even if the gear has just touched the ground then why isn't there any smoke?? Therefore this is just a tail-strike take-off.
Anonymous
13 years ago
Ooopss!!
Anonymous
13 years ago
Of course it's a takeoff otherwise it would have been more flaps down... remember that to the next time you should decide if its a landing or takeoff
Anonymous
12 years ago
Nice tail strike ! Tail strike on landing, never heard of that. This clearly looks like a take-off, and the photographer talked about dumping fuel, that is, after the plane took to the air ! When you're rotating usually you're committed to your take-off, not enough runway left for a safe abort.

About the flaps, I will not say if they're at the good setting, but I will say that the plane should not let you take-off without flaps and slats (take-off warning system), unless there is a malfunction (see Spanair crash).

Usually a tail-strike is due to the pilot rotating too strongly, too early, or the weight and balance being wrong.
Anonymous
12 years ago
Wow! According to the position the plane has on runway 16, it must be a take off. I wonder why he is in such a hurry to become airborne, he still has about 1000m of runway in front of him...
Anonymous
12 years ago
Lucky...
Anonymous
12 years ago
Boom!
Anonymous
12 years ago
I am going blind in my old age BUT i dont see any landing gear on the left side of this plane..
Anonymous
12 years ago
To the person who says they're 'going blind"; the left gear is there, however it is harder to see because it blends into the shadow.
Anonymous
11 years ago
Look at the flaps, not fully deployed. This bird was certainly taking off and not landing.
Anonymous
11 years ago
The chances of getting a shot like this must be few and far between - usually when one has no camera at the ready!
Anonymous
11 years ago
My dog does that ssometimes! Not so good for a 200 million dollar 777, though, and I imagine that the chances of catching one of these events on camera must be very small. Great capture!
Anonymous
10 years ago
I`ve never seen before this.
Anonymous
9 years ago
What a great capture, rite time rite place good picture.
Anonymous
7 years ago
Ehm, yes rare picture ... In switzerland you are expected to be a bit more "precise"
Connecticut, USA
5 years ago
That airline just can't get it right, can they?
Missouri, USA
5 years ago
Luck for you (and us), not so much for the left.
Anonymous
3 years ago
Hearing that must've been like nails on a chalkboard.
1.2K   Spain
2 years ago
Fantastic photo and a really strong tailstrike.
California, USA
1 year ago
The flaps are either up or set for take off. Definitely not landing. So this looks like over rotation!!

Ralph
www.gmtpilots.com
Florida, USA
1 year ago
It just crossed rwy 10-28 about to pass by E7 int with rwy16, which makes it about over 2000m down the runway, so yeah i agree over rotation on take off - easy to do if your speeds are miscalculated or early rotation. Or just old fashioned over rotation. That tailstrike should have precipitated a return to land right back there.
Puerto Rico
10 months ago
Landing or take-off?
Minnesota, USA
22 days ago
Both main gear are down. Flaps may extened about five degrees but the leading edge flaps do not look like they are extended.
This an excellent photgraph of a jet that is a tail dragger. A perfect example of how not to fly an aircraft.

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