Flight aborted today after take off?
 

Hi, newbie here. Got chatting to a couple today in London who said their BA initial flight from Madrid today was aborted during take off due to a faulty engine. Nothing unusual there, but they said the front of the plane had lifted then suddently dropped back down to ground with a thud. I always thought once a plane had gone over V1 (or v2?) the plane was committed to take off regardless due to a lack on run way to stop?

I presume the plane in question would have been a 737 or small Airbus, but I've never heard of being airborn then aborting before. Can't find anything on Google yet.

Depends on the length of the runway and if they had actually gotten the mains off the ground. Sounds like the nose lifted but the mains didn't.

joe

Depending on how (and when) the local aviation authority classifies the incident, it will probably end up posted on this fascinating site:

http://avherald.com/

Cool site - thanks ^

It's very unusual to reject the takeoff at high speed - typically the only reason to reject after 80 knots (Boeing) or 100 knots (Airbus) is a situation that will prevent the aircraft from safely flying. If the nose had already lifted off, they were well past V1, so it must have been a serious problem and a long runway. Usually it's better to just deal with the problem airborne than attempt to reject the takeoff at high speed. Plus, as a pilot, I get PAID while I'm flying around the pattern coming back to land! :)