SIA aircraft tail damaged after aborted landing at Changi Airport

The tail of a Singapore Airlines aircraft was damaged after it made contact with the runway during an aborted landing at Changi Airport on Saturday (Jan 24).

The incident

The Airbus A350, operating flight SQ917 from Manila, carried out a "rejected landing" at about 6:07pm at Changi Airport.

During the manoeuvre, the Airbus A350-900’s tail struck the runway before the pilots executed a go-around.

The aircraft subsequently landed safely around 25 minutes later, and all passengers and crew disembarked normally.

Windy conditions

The aborted landing was carried out because of prevailing wind conditions at the airport, an SIA spokesperson told Mothership.

After going around, the aircraft made a second approach and landed safely at about 6:32pm, taxiing to the terminal without incident.

There were 256 passengers and 16 crew members onboard at the time, and no injuries were reported.

All passengers and cabin crew members disembarked normally from the flight.

Undergoing repairs

The runway contact resulted in what is known as a tail strike, a rare occurrence in which the rear section of an aircraft touches the runway during take-off or landing.

While uncommon, such incidents can require extensive inspections and repairs.

The airline said the aircraft is currently undergoing repairs following the incident.

Images circulating online appear to show scrape marks on the underside of the aircraft’s tail.

Flight data shows the aircraft departed Manila at 2:54pm local time and had otherwise operated normally prior to arrival in Singapore.

Top images from aviationbrk/X, Pixabay