Canadian investigators have disclosed that a Sunwing Airlines Boeing 737-800 damaged lighting at the end of the runway during a prolonged take-off from Belfast.
The crew had discovered problems with acceleration as the aircraft – chartered by tour operator TUI for a service to Corfu on 21 July – during its take-off roll from runway 07.
Transportation Safety Board of Canada states that the crew opted to select go-around thrust before reaching rotation speed, after which maximum continuous thrust was set for the climb.
Air traffic controllers observed that the aircraft had experienced an "unusually long" take-off run, and approach lighting for the opposite-direction runway 25 was subsequently found to have been damaged.
None of the 186 occupants was injured, according to an incident filing disclosed by the board, and the 737 (C-FWGH) was not damaged.
UK investigators are probing the event, the board states. It has not indicated the origin of the problem or detailed the performance data calculations used for the take-off.
Source: Cirium Dashboard
