Boeing passenger jet's tail hits the ground on take-off after plane carrying 287 mysteriously braked and ran off German runway in 'near disaster'

A passenger plane carrying nearly 300 people struck its tail as it took off from Munich airport in an incident that was described as a 'near disaster'.Footage showed the tumultuous departure of the Vietnam Airlines Boeing 787 on Saturday. A cloud of dust was thrown into the air as the tail hit the ground. Inside the cabin, a loud scraping noise was heard as the plane, which was carrying 271 passengers and 16 crew, lifted off the runway. The 250-ton plane skidded across grass, hit light posts and soared towards trees as the crew – made up of three pilots and one less experienced first officer – desperately pulled its nose up into the air. No one onboard the Hanoi-bound plane was hurt, but aviation experts said the episode could have ended in disaster. According to the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV), the pilots reported that the aircraft, whose registration is VN-A867, stopped accelerating for about two seconds while halfway down Munich Airport's 26L runway. AeroTime, an aviation news organisation, reported that the 787 then began accelerating again, reaching V1 – the maximum speed during take off where a pilot can safely abort and stop a plane on the runway. But with too little runway left, the pilots continued to accelerate. The pilots only had about 300ft of runway when they lifted the plane's nose to fly into the sky. A cloud of dust was thrown into the air as the plane's tail hit the ground Photos taken from the runway showed at least two of the wheels had been torn to shredsPhotos and videos show long skid marks towards the end of the runway, indicating there may have been some late braking. So far, officials have not yet determined that a crew or brake malfunction happened. But Germany's Federal Bureau of Aircraft Accident Investigation said that the tyre marks were linked to the Boeing aircraft. After the plane was airborne, the crew received warnings that the tail had struck the ground and that the tyres were at an abnormal pressure. After telling air traffic control, they decided to land back in Munich. Data from FlightRadar24 showed the plane circled around the city for nearly two hours before landing back at the airport. Because the plane was flying to Hanoi, it was carrying a large amount of fuel for a long-haul flight that was dumped during these loops. Upon its landing, airport staff found that four of the aircraft's eight main landing gear had lost pressure. Photos taken from the runway showed at least two of the wheels had been torn to shreds. There was also damage to the underside of the aft fuselage, which was consistent with a tailstrike. Jacques Jaurand, a retired Air France Boeing captain, told The Times: 'There may have been a problem with decision-making on the flight deck and also perhaps a problem with the aircraft itself.'He said it was possible, though unlikely, that a pilot may have applied the brakes while the captain was unaware. Footage showed the tumultuous departure of the Vietnam Airlines Boeing 787 on Saturday The plane took several laps around Munich before landing at the airport again There was also damage to the underside of the aft fuselage, which was consistent with a tailstrikeJuan Browne, an American Airlines Boeing pilot, questioned on his YouTube channel why the pilots didn't slow down upon the first sign of deceleration. But he admitted that once the plane reached V1, they were right to pull the nose of the aircraft up as hard as they could: 'A rejected take-off this near to the end of the runway would have been a disaster.German investigators are now looking into exactly what happened, analysing black-boxes on the plane, and are expected to release an interim report in the coming weeks. The Daily Mail has contacted Vietnam Airlines and Boeing for comment.