Dramatic footage of a passenger plane suddenly veering towards the edge of the runway as it accelerated for takeoff, causing the pilots to take corrective action and tyre bursting in the process.
The unsettling incident occurred on October 27 at Zurich Airport as an Airbus A320 aircraft was preparing for departure to Faro, Portugal.
The 24-year-old aircraft is operated by Swiss leisure airline Edelweiss and has been taken out of service since last week’s incident, according to publicly available flight tracking data.
The Aviation Herald reports that the plane was traveling at high speed at around 140 knots when the aircraft suddenly veered left towards the edge of the runway. The pilots rejected the takeoff and steered the aircraft back towards the centre line of the runway before taxiing back to the gate.
Passengers onboard the plane said the aircraft had suddenly started to shake left and right as it was accelerating along the runway and that anything that was’t strapped down was being thrown around the cabin.
The cause of the accident hasn’t yet been established, although the airline said the plane had shown “abnormal behaviour”. It’s believed that the tyre burst after the pilots rejected the takeoff.
Edelweiss said in a statement: “During the take-off run, the crew had problems with directional stability and decided to abort the take-off at high speed.”
“Due to the hard braking, the brakes heated up accordingly. This resulted in a controlled release of air in the tire to prevent bursting. The aircraft will be back in service tomorrow”
