Air NZ plane tail appears to hit runway at Wellington Airport, airline says no contact

An Air New Zealand plane aborted its landing after appearing to strike its tail on the runway at Wellington Airport.

Footage of the flight NZ272 shows the plane landing and suddenly pulling up with smoke billowing in the tail area of the plane.

But the airline says despite what some might consider contact with the tail on the runaway, that did not occur.

Air New Zealand head of flight operations Captain Hugh Pearce confirmed the flight from Brisbane to Wellington on Thursday afternoon experienced wind shear just before touchdown.

“When the wind shear occurred, the standard procedure of initiating a go-around was executed with the main wheels touching the runway in the process.

An Air New Zealand plane appeared to strike its tail on the runway at Wellington Airport on Thursday.

“Due to the weather conditions at Wellington, the pilots diverted to Auckland and made a safe landing,” Pearce said.

The aircraft is currently on the ground maintenance checks are performed.

An inspection of the aircraft confirmed there was no tail contact with the runway, the airline said.

“Aircraft data has also been sent to Airbus to analyse and advise if there is anything else our maintenance team needs to do before the aircraft can be returned to service,” Pearce said.

Pearce said it was a rare situation but the crew was trained to respond to it.

Pearce confirmed all customers onboard were re-accommodated.