The passengers on board S7 Airlines flight S7-263 from Moscow Domodedovo (DME) to Simferopol are lucky to be alive after their Boeing 737-800 aircraft ran off the end of the runway before finally getting airborne on August 5th, 2019.

Once the flight became airborne it flew successfully to Simferopol where the landing was problem free, however, the flight could have ended in tragedy.

Russian investigators are still researching the cause of this near accident, but initial thoughts are pointing to a miscalculation by the crew for the takeoff weight. Sources online have noted that the 737 was 15 tonnes heavier than initially thought. They believe the crew may have mistakenly calculated the takeoff performance using zero fuel weight instead of the actual fuel weight (which makes up the 15 ton discrepancy).

After the incident in Domodedovo, an inspection of the runway was performed and revealed glass debris as well as 5 damaged runway lights. Once the flight landed in Simferopol, an inspection of the aircraft was carried out and found to have glass embedded in the landing gear as well as 3 damaged tires.