There are instances in flight history when there are instances that remind us of the challenge of balancing between safety and capricious winds. One such tale is the gripping story of Emirates Flight 407, which otherwise would have been lost to the tragedy just at the time when it took off on the night of March 20, 2009.
It's not an ordinary takeoff.
The setting was Melbourne Airport, and Emirates Flight 407 was soon to take off. On board one of its 275 passengers on the Airbus A340 was a commuter ready to board the 14-hour flight to Dubai. No one would have imagined that this flight would test the crew to their limits and the toughness of the plane to its limits as well.Preparation for Takeoff
As pilots proceeded to perform pre-flight checks, the first officer calculated critical takeoff parameters on an electronic flight bag, a laptop, and the equipment of today's pilot. The parameters would determine the performance of the aircraft during takeoff and would also act as a guide for power setting and speed to safely take off.Grievous Calculative Mistake
Amidst the hurry of preparation, one minute error had crept in—a misplaced digit which turned out to be fatal. The takeoff weight of the aircraft had been noted as 326.9 tonnes while it should have been 361.9 tonnes. But the error was noticed in time for the actual takeoff weight to be altered with whatever infinitesimal ranges were possible.As the countdown seconds ticked past and the plane taxied onto runway 16, tension existed right through the entire flight deck. With max power and clearance, A340 tore down the runway. However, since the scheduled rotation speed had already been attained, the plane would simply refuse to lift off the ground as intended.