On the morning of Jan. 26, as two Alaska Airlines flights from Seattle to Hawaii lifted off six minutes apart, the pilots each felt a slight bump and the flight attendants at the back of the cabin heard a scraping noise.
As the noses of both Boeing 737s lifted skyward on takeoff, their tails scraped the
runway.
Both planes circled back immediately and landed again at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. Tail strikes happen occasionally in aviation, but two in quick succession were not normal.
Bret Peyton, Alaska’s on-duty director of operations, immediately ordered no more planes to take off across the airline’s network. All Alaska flights not already airborne were stopped nationwide.
“At that point, two in a row like that, that’s when I sa
id, ‘No, we’re done,’” said Peyton. “That’s when I stopped things.”
For Peyton, who was an Air Force lieutenant colonel, that decisive call was a heart-racing moment. But few travelers, apart from the passengers aboard the two Hawaii flights who had to wait several hours to continue their journey, would have noticed anything amiss.
A pilot at American Airlines — which uses a similar tool, though developed internally, to generate takeoff performance data — explained that the computer then calculates just the right amount of engine thrust so the pilots don’t use more than necessary.
“The goal is to lower the power used on takeoff,” said the pilot, who also spoke anonymously because he didn’t have authorization. “That reduces engine wear and saves money” on fuel and maintenance.
