Huge airliner aborts landing on LAX runway

A massive Lufthansa Boeing 747 came close to disaster during a dramatic landing attempt at LAX when the jumbo jet tilted sharply upward and its tail appeared to narrowly miss the runway.

The frightening moment occurred Saturday afternoon as the four-engine plane, arriving from Frankfurt, Germany, attempted to land.

Footage captured by aviation enthusiasts on Airline Videos Live shows the huge plane descending towards the runway with its landing gear extended before appearing to land further down the tarmac than expected.

But the landing did not go as planned. Rather than continue the approach, the pilots aborted the landing and propelled the plane into the air in a maneuver called a go-around.

As the plane climbed, its nose tilted sharply upward, sending the rear of the fuselage plunging toward the ground in a breathtaking moment that appeared to leave just inches between the tail and the runway.

The plane’s landing gear remained extended as it gained altitude above the airport.

Despite the alarming angle, the footage showed no obvious tail collisions, and the huge plane managed to move away to prepare for another approach.

The incident involved Lufthansa flight LH 456, which had traveled from Frankfurt to Southern California.

The dramatic footage was captured by Airline Videos Live, whose cameras were trained on the busy airport as the plane approached runway 24R in real time.

The Boeing 747-8 is one of the largest passenger planes ever built, measuring approximately 250 feet long and more than 60 feet high.

Its enormous size makes managing its pitch during landing and takeoff particularly important. If the nose rises too sharply, the rear of the plane can strike the runway – a potentially damaging incident called a tail strike.

The decision to abort the landing allowed the crew to move away rather than continue an approach that appeared to lack runway.

Go-arounds are a standard aviation safety procedure, allowing pilots to abort an unstable or improper landing attempt and return for another attempt.

The maneuver can appear dramatic to onlookers, especially when performed by a plane as large as the 747.

The incident also highlights the dwindling number of wide-body planes still flying around the world.

There are only around fifty Boeing 747s left in the airline fleets, of which Lufthansa operates more than half.

Airlines are increasingly turning to smaller, more fuel-efficient twin-engine planes, making the four-engine 747 an increasingly rare sight in commercial passenger service.

There was no immediate indication that the plane suffered damage during the aborted landing.

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