Delta flight lands short of runway at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport

The rear wheels of a Delta Air Lines flight arriving from Detroit struck the terrain before the runway when it landed at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam on Thursday. A spokesperson for the airport told NL Times that there were no known injuries. The cause of the incident was under investigation. A spokesperson for the airline was not immediately available.

A wind advisory was in place in the western portion of the Netherlands when the incident happened at about 8 a.m., and the Airbus A330-300 was told to land on the Oostbaan. "The landing did not go as planned," an airport spokesperson said.

"The rear wheels of the airplane struck the grass first ahead of the runway." Undershooting the runway is not a common occurrence at the airport, he said. There was some damage to the airport's easternmost takeoff and landing strip, which is also known as Runway 22. The pavement was repaired quickly, but two runway lights were still inoperable mid-afternoon. "The runway was out of service for about an hour."

The aircraft was able to taxi to the gate, and all passengers entered the airport without issue. From there, they were able to continue to their destinations, he added.

The Dutch Safety Board spokesperson said they were notified of the incident at around 8 a.m. Investigators were sent to the airport to try and determine what exactly happened, and whether a more intensive study was necessary.

“I can't remember that this has happened at Schiphol in the past ten years. Very annoying, nobody wants this to happen," said Benno Baksteen, a former pilot and the former chair of the Dutch pilots' association. In an interview with AD, he noted that Runway 22 is shorter than other runways at the airport. “It is possible that an incorrect assessment has been made, but that will have to be investigated.”

The runway is not used daily, but air traffic was sent to the Oostbaan because of wind conditions. However, gusts of wind are not uncommon at Schiphol. “The weather is often bad. The OVV will investigate the incident in detail and then come up with recommendations,” Baksteen said. Circumstances will dictate if the pilot will face any penalty, but Baksteen speculated that sanctions are unlikely.

“The point is that we all learn from it so that this cannot happen again in the future.”