British Airways Flight Suffers Double Tail Strike at Heathrow

British Airways flight BA431, an Airbus A321 Neo arriving from Amsterdam, suffered a double tail strike during an aborted landing attempt at London Heathrow Airport on Thursday, November 12, 2026. Footage from BigJet TV and FlightRadar24 showed the aircraft swaying before touchdown, causing the rear of the plane to scrape the runway surface twice.

The pilots performed a go-around and successfully landed the aircraft at 10:49 am, approximately 20 minutes after the initial incident. The aircraft has been removed from service and is not scheduled to fly again for two days.

British Airways launched an internal investigation and is assisting the Air Accidents Investigation Branch of the United Kingdom. The airline stated that the aircraft landed safely and that they are legally unable to comment further at this stage.