Hopefully commercial planes are not very frequently hit by rockets, but this happens, as a DHL crew flying and Airbus 300 experienced…. in Baghdad.

This post is may be slightly off-topic compared to the other in this series, which were about fog, wind and thunderstorms but it is a very good illustration of the safety margin which is build in airplanes.

To be brief, the plane has been hit by a rocket shortly after take-off. They lost all hydraulic power, so their controls all became inoperative. On top of that, a significant part of the left wind has been taken away, and fuel was leaking massively.

Nevertheless, the crew achieved to continue climb, turn around… and land safely on the runway. They made it by adjusting engines power to manoeuver the aircraft !

All the details are in this presentation made by Captain Jacques Rosay, which is nothing less than Airbus Chief Test Pilot: A300 in Baghdad !

The report is well detailled, and quite easy to understand even without any special knowledge. I’m obviously ready to answer any question you could leave in your comments.