[5] Despite having tailstrike protection built into the A340-500, the rear pressure bulkhead and the underlying structure were severely damaged during the take-off roll when the tail struck the runway with considerable force.

The aircraft also suffered extensive damage to the bottom of the fuselage as it scraped along the runway, a large surface having been completely stripped off its external sheet.

[2]: 4–8 The aircraft was not written off, but was instead returned to Airbus by way of a low-altitude flight without pressurisation routed from Melbourne to Toulouse on 19 June via Perth, Singapore, Dubai, and Cairo with the crew flying below 12,000 feet (3,700 m).

Central to the investigation was how the first officer had come to use the wrong aircraft weight, why that mistake was not picked up before takeoff, and why the flight crew had not realized the acceleration was much slower than expected until nearly entirely exhausting the 3.6-kilometre (12,000-foot) runway.

[2]: ix Studies showed that aircrew could have difficulty recognising that incorrect data had been entered in avionic equipment, resulting in poor take-off performance.

They found that human error was the cause, and urged the development of technological aids that would alert pilots to incorrect data entry or insufficient take-off speed.

[failed verification] Furthermore, Airbus is developing a monitoring system to compute required acceleration rates and apply a "reasonableness test" to data input and alert the pilot to any potential errors.

[16] Australian Transport Safety Bureau Aviation Occurrence Investigation AO-2009-012 "Tailstrike and runway overrun - Airbus A340-541, A6-ERG, Melbourne Airport, Victoria, 20 March 2009" Other external links: