- Lufthansa 747-8 narrowly avoided tail strike at LAX.
- Pilots performed a go-around after aborted landing.
- Aircraft landed safely on second attempt, no injuries.
A Lufthansa Boeing 747-8 came terrifyingly close to scraping its tail on the runway at Los Angeles International Airport on Saturday afternoon after pilots aborted a landing attempt and sent the massive jumbo jet climbing steeply back into the sky, CBS News reported.
A dramatic video captured by aviation livestream Airline Videos Live shows the heart-stopping sequence. According to the report, flight LH456, arriving from Frankfurt, Germany, approached Runway 24R. As it was closer to the runway, the aircraft appeared to float longer than expected before its main wheels finally touched down well down the runway. The terrifying footage shows the tail was merely an inch away from touching the ground.
A Lufthansa 747 narrowly avoided a tail strike during an aborted landing at Los Angeles International Airport. https://t.co/fxaPmIyCCr
— CBS News (@CBSNews) October 11, 2026
How did the pilot manage to escape the disaster?
However, the pilots did an immediate go-around. As the four-engine jet’s nose pitched sharply upward and engines powered up, the long tail swung downward and appeared to hover just inches above the tarmac. For a fleeting moment, it looked as if a tail strike was inevitable. There was no contact. The plane climbed away cleanly with its landing gear still extended, circled, and landed safely on a second attempt about 15 minutes later.
No injuries were reported and the aircraft, registered D-ABYK, continued operations.
Lufthansa airline responds
Lufthansa confirmed the go-around, describing it as a standard, well-rehearsed safety procedure. "Safety is always a top priority at Lufthansa," a spokesperson said. The airline did not detail the exact reason for abandoning the first approach.
The Boeing 747-8 is one of the longest passenger jets still flying, roughly 250 feet from nose to tail. Its size makes precise pitch control critical during takeoff and landing, which is why the steep nose-up attitude during the go-around looked so dramatic. The footage quickly went viral among aviation enthusiasts, with many calling it one of the closest near-misses caught on camera in recent years. The jet is among the roughly 50 passenger 747s still in airline service worldwide, most of them operated by Lufthansa.