Airplane's Nose Lifted From The Runway Prior To Reaching Rotation Speed

An investigation is underway in an incident in which the nose of an Allegiant Airlines MD-83 lifted off the runway prior to reaching rotation speed, according to an incident report filed by the airline.

Bloomberg Business reports that the incident occurred last week. Flight 463 was departing Las Vegas for Peoria, IL with 164 passengers and crew on board.

According to the incident report filed with the FAA, the nose of the airplane lifted off the runway before rotation speed was reached, and stayed off the ground when the pilots took corrective action. The pilots aborted the takeoff, according to the report.

An inspection conducted by the airline showed an actuator that controls one of the two elevators on the MD-83 had become disconnected. Allegiant said the aircraft was repaired and put back into service.

Allegiant spokeswoman Kimberly Schaefer said that all of the airline's MD-80 series jets had also been inspected “to ensure the flight control systems in those aircraft were functioning properly before returning them into service. All aircraft were found to be in working order.”

(Image from file. Not incident airplane)

FMI: www.ntsb.gov, www.faa.gov