Emirates flight fell off radar

An Emirates A340-500 carrying 275 people vanished from sight and was invisible on airport radar screens immediately after a botched take-off at Melbourne airport, in which it came within seconds of crashing.

Details of the near-disaster have emerged from the air traffic controllers union Civil Air president Bob Mason, who told The Weekend Australian those on duty in the airport’s control tower had no way of knowing the fate of Emirates Airlines flight 407 after it limped into the air and flew low over a densely populated suburb on March 20.

Mason revealed the plane didn’t even gain enough altitude to be seen and that air traffic controllers had noticed there was a problem with the flight half way down the runway.

“Then they saw sparks coming from the back of the aircraft as its tail struck the ground as it tried to become airborne,” Mason added.

Sources said that after taking-off the airbus still struggled to climb quickly, meaning it did not immediately show up on the control tower’s radars, which show an aircraft only when it has reached take-off height.

A preliminary report by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) found pilot error was to blame for the incident, which has been described as the closest Australia has ever come to a major airline disaster.

The ATSB will release its interim report on the accident at the end of next month.