Summary
- Delta Air Lines Flight 175 experienced an engine failure on takeoff at Milan-Malpensa Airport in Italy.
- The crew decided to continue takeoff after engine failure to return to the departure airport safely.
- Witnesses saw a prolonged engine smoke and a tail strike.
On July 16th, 2024, Delta Air Lines Flight 175 experienced an engine failure during takeoff and a subsequent tail strike at Milan-Malpensa Airport (MXP) in Italy. The aircraft continued the takeoff and landed safely at its departure airport without further incident.
Multi-engine to single-engine
Delta Air Lines Flight 175 flies nonstop from Milan-Malpensa Airport (MXP) to Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport (ATL) using a Boeing 767-400ER widebody twinjet, registered N835MH.
According to ch-aviation, the aircraft produced at the Boeing Everett factory in 2000 is equipped with three General Electric CF6-80 turbofan engines. It has flown 92,127 hours in total and 17,814 flight cycles.
Photo: Vincenzo Pace I Simple Flying
The aircraft was departing from MXP’s runway 17R. According to The Aviation Herald, witnesses on the ground reported that the left-hand engine produced smoke for a prolonged period even before the aircraft was airborne. The aircraft also suffered a tail strike on takeoff, presumably due to the lack of thrust and the pilot pulling back on the controls excessively in an attempt to get airborne quickly.
According to Flight Aware, after climbing out, the aircraft leveled off at 3,000 ft and stayed within a 40 km radius of MXP while the pilots ran through checklists. The aircraft then returned to MXP, where it landed on runway 35R. Emergency crews were standing by but didn’t have to intervene, as the aircraft landed safely without any complications.
The cause of the engine failure is unknown, but a bird strike has not been ruled out. Simple Flying has reached out to Delta Air Lines for a statement.
Engine failure on takeoff
The most dangerous phases of flight are takeoff and landing, when the aircraft is low, slow, and lacks control authority. So, why even try to get airborne?
When an aircraft is on its takeoff roll, the crew briefs possible emergency scenarios, including engine failures. There are two main scenarios for an engine failure, divided between the envelope before and after the Takeoff Decision Speed (V1), which is the maximum speed at which a rejected takeoff can be performed. The V1 speed changes based on the runway’s length and slope, the aircraft’s weight, and weather conditions. It is calculated before each flight.
Photo: Delta Air Lines
The logic is simple: if the engine fails before V1, the aircraft can be stopped within the remaining runway available. If the engine fails after V1, the aircraft is too fast and will overrun the end of the runway. As a result, the safest option is to continue the takeoff and return to land.
Considering that Delta Flight 175’s crew chose to continue the takeoff, it can be assumed that they were after V1 and had no knowledge that the engine was producing smoke during the initial takeoff run. However, the subsequent tail strike implies that the pilots noticed the drop in performance and were in a hurry to get the aircraft airborne.
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