The plane at Bristol Airport did not have enough power to take off – reports

A report by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) found that a flight from Bristol Airport did not have enough thrust to take off safely.

The flight, a Boeing 737-8K5, with six crew members and 163 passengers, departed on March 4, 2024 for Las Palmas, Gran Canaria.

It then flew over the A38 just 100 feet (30 m) above ground level, the report said.

“Both pilots noticed how close they were to the end of the runway,” he added.

The AAIB said the crew had mistakenly failed to set the correct thrust value and no pilot had noticed the error.

The flight was used as a training flight for the route with a new captain, who was under the supervision of a second captain acting as the aircraft commander.

The pilots did not establish the correct thrust until they flew 885 ft (270 m) from the end of the runway and then flew too low over the A38.

“It is well known that humans are poor at detecting acceleration rates and recognizing that their take-off stroke does not match calculated performance,” the report said.

“Performance problems can be insidious and invisible to the crew until very late in takeoff,” the authors concluded.

The flight landed in Las Palmas without incident and the AAIB said it would soon publish a full report on the incident.