A Ryanair flight from Malta to London Luton was forced to return to the airport in Malta after the tail of the aircraft brushed the runway.

According to Times of Malta, the plane took off at a steep angle.

Crew on the Boeing 737-800 stopped the ascent at 5,000ft, The Aviation Herald reports.

The plane safely landed in Malta around 35 minutes after it had departed.

Technicians inspected the aircraft and found the damage was only to a plastic protector.

The flight was reportedly delayed by eight hours and a replacement plane was used.

In March, two Ryanair pilots admitted they had forgotten to contact the control tower before landing a Boeing 737 in Alicante carrying 174 passengers. This came a month after a Ryanair aircraft reportedly taxied the wrong way down a runway where other planes were about to land in Dublin.

http://travel.aol.co.uk/2013/04/10/ryanair-plane-tail-hits-runway-during-take-off/

Can't speak for the Alicante incident but the Dublin one is a load of tosh, never happened.

You are right Dermot, I am sure that would have been headline news on the TV & the papers.

Apparently when Mick sits in the back of the plane they have to get everyone else at the front to even it out

Daryn wrote:

Apparently when Mick sits in the back of the plane they have to get everyone else at the front to even it out

You cheeky git, you are a fine one to talk.

This is a 100% true story. I bought a car in Manchester about 5/6 years ago and made the mistake of flying from Galway. We got on one of these turbo prop thingy's. As there was only one door, we had to walk to the rear and board the plane there. It was the bumpiest flight I have ever been on. Even the on board drinks were served in those polystyrene cups with the lids on them to prevent spillage. Anyway, we landed an hour later ( thankfully ). The dolly then announced over the intercom that passengers in rows 21-40 should disembark first and the rest of us remain seated. I was in row 20 and one of the hostesses was keeping gaurd. I got up to get my bag from the overhead but she asked me to remain seated. "Why" I asked naturally enough. "Because" she said, " if everyone tries to leave at the same time, the plane will tip up onto its arse and beg like a dog". Those were her exact words!! Just as well that I was sitting cos i would have fallen down with laughter had i been standing up. I told her that it was just as well that she told me at the end of the flight, cos there wasn't a hope in hell of me getting on a plane like that had I known in advance!

Great little story Dermot, a rep from me.