Qatar Airways is proud of the Airbus A350, and especially proud to be the first airline to fly the aircraft to three continents. But the Doha-based airline is probably less proud of what happened last week.
On the inaugural flight leaving New York City, the aircraft automatically aborted takeoff because it deemed the runway too short, according to The Points Guy's Zach Honig.
Wow wow wow ... Our A350 violently aborted takeoff at JFK. Got the whole thing on video.— Zach Honig (@ZachHonig) December 11, 2015
Aborted takeoffs are not typically noteworthy, but this was an important flight for the Gulf carrier, the first passenger flight with lots of media on board.
Honig was among those on the flight, recording the takeoff as seen in the video above, when the plane came to an abrupt and screeching halt.
No one was injured, though Honig said that he and other passengers were visibly shaken afterward.
"To give you another idea of how abruptly we stopped," he wrote, "nearly all of the 200+ pillows and blankets landed on the floor, having previously been neatly arranged on each seat in economy."
Qatar's CCO just came by to update me. The A350 got a signal that the runway was too short and the plane auto-braked. #QR7452— Zach Honig (@ZachHonig) December 11, 2015
Despite some passengers asking to disembark, Qatar reportedly did not allow them to, and the plane took off two hours later, with an otherwise smooth trip to Doha.
Successful and safe second takeoff of #QR7452. The first A350 is off!— Zach Honig (@ZachHonig) December 11, 2015