Incident Overview
On Saturday, July 15, 2017, at 22:41 Japan Standard Time, a Boeing 747-8F registered as N852GT, operated by Polar Air Cargo Worldwide Inc. as scheduled flight 213, experienced a serious incident during takeoff from runway 16L at Narita International Airport. The aircraft lifted off after performing its take-off roll all the way to the vicinity of the end of the runway, resulting in a case equivalent to runway overrun. The captain and first officer were on board; no injuries were sustained and the aircraft was not damaged.
Flight History
The flight was from Narita International Airport to Shanghai Pudong International Airport. The captain served as pilot-flying (PF) and the first officer as pilot-monitoring (PM). The aircraft was cleared for takeoff from runway 16L. At 22:40:16, the thrust levers were advanced and the aircraft commenced takeoff. At 22:40:37, airspeed reached 80 knots. The aircraft lifted off at 22:41:06 and passed the departure end of runway 16L at a radio altitude of about 16 feet at 22:41:07.
Crew Actions and FMC Settings
According to the captain's statement, he had initially programmed the Flight Management Computer (FMC) for runway 16R, as he often expected to use that runway due to shorter taxi time. When the clearance for runway 16L was received, he changed the FMC settings for takeoff, but only adjusted the assumed temperature without changing the thrust setting from de-rated take-off thrust to rated take-off thrust, as required for the different runway. He instructed the first officer to verify takeoff data using the Control Display Unit (CDU) and the Flight Deck Performance (FDP) page, but no verification of actual take-off thrust was performed before commencing the take-off roll.
Probable Cause
It is probable that the aircraft commenced a take-off roll using take-off thrust lower than required, causing a longer take-off roll distance and lift-off near the runway end, resulting in a case equivalent to runway overrun. This occurred because the captain did not correctly change the FMC settings for take-off thrust when the runway changed from the one assumed, and the flight crew did not ensure verification of the take-off thrust before commencing the take-off roll.