On Thursday evening, a DHL A300 freighter jet aborted takeoff at high speed. This resulted in several burst tires and a blocked Brussels Airport runway well into the small hours of the morning. The cause of the rejected takeoff is still unknown.
Tires burst from heat
On Thursday evening, a DHL Airbus A300-600 aborted a high-speed take off at Brussels Airport. Firefighters rushed to the scene of runway 25R, where they hosed down the landing gear. Other than that, there seems to have been no damage to either crew or plane.
The aircraft remained on the runway until 04:00 local time. According to aviation24.be, all other traffic was redirected to runway 25L for landings and runway 19 for take-offs.
Why the A300’s pilots chose to abort the takeoff is still unknown. However, a takeoff is usually only abrupted at high speed due to a severe malfunction. Several of the A300’s tires became so hot from the friction that they burst or deflated during the halted attempt. This can be seen below in a short video that appeared on social media.
DHL A300 aborts takeoff at Brussels Airport, requiring emergency services to attend to hot brakes. https://t.co/UOpkB9Kiea pic.twitter.com/LJwbGj7ezy
— Breaking Aviation News & Videos (@breakingavnews) November 27, 2020
Aircraft had been busy the past week
The DHL freighter, D-AEAI, operated by European Air Transport (EAT), was heading to Vitoria, Spain, one day after arriving in Brussels from East Midlands Airport. Over the past week, it had operated no less than 12 flights. These had taken it all over Europe to places like Helsinki, Vienna, Lisbon, Madrid, and EAT’s home airport of Leipzig.
High speed increases the risk associated with rejection
Aircraft manufacturers specify a speed that signifies the transition between low and high speed. Beyond this point, the takeoff would only be rejected for major malfunctions such as engine failure or fire. It is unclear at precisely what speed the pilots made the decision to abort.
The “commit to fly” speed is known as V1. Above V1, the takeoff must continue unless there is reason to believe that the aircraft will not fly. While it is possible to reject take-off after this point, the risks involved, of course, increase along with speed.
Twenty-eight-year-old reconfigured jet
The aircraft in question is a 28-year old Airbus A300-600. It began life as a passenger long-haul jet for the limited international network of Japan’s third-largest carrier Japan Air Systems in 1992. After the airlines failed, the jet remained in Japan under the livery Japan Airlines. The plane then arrived with ETA in 2013 following three years of storage and subsequent reconfiguration for cargo-only operations.
Simple Flying has reached out to Brussels Airport for more information on the incident but was yet to receive a response at the time of publication.
Have you ever experienced or witnessed a rejected take-off? Tell us about it in the comments.
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