The Croatian Civil Aviation Agency (HACZ) and the Air, Maritime and Railway Accident Investigation Agency (AIN) have launched a formal, comprehensive investigation into a serious runway excursion involving a Croatia Airlines Airbus A220-300 aircraft during its takeoff roll at Split Airport. The new aircraft, registered 9A-CAN, named Osijek, was accelerating down Runway 23 and reached a speed of approximately 131 knots before the crew initiated a high-speed rejected takeoff. Video footage circulating on social media shows the aircraft suddenly veering to the left as it neared its rotation point. The pilots successfully deployed reverse thrust and heavy braking, but the plane drifted off the asphalt, with its left-side landing gear and part of the fuselage coming to a stop in the adjacent grass.
🚨 WATCH: Croatia Airlines Airbus A220-300 veers off the runway and ends up on the grass surface during an aborted take-off from Split Airport, Croatia.
— Breaking Aviation News & Videos (@aviationbrk) May 16, 2026
The aircraft sustained damage from colliding with a marker board and runway edge lights.
All passengers and crew members are… pic.twitter.com/dcNLUFmYru
Witnesses reported seeing a cloud of smoke and flying debris. Split Airport officials confirmed the aircraft sustained structural damage to its underside and left engine housing after striking a vertical runway marker sign and several runway edge lights. There were 132 passengers and five crew members (two pilots and three cabin crew) on board. Croatia Airlines and Airport Deputy Director Pero Bilas confirmed that all 137 people were safely and immediately evacuated from the aircraft. No injuries were reported. Passengers are said to have remained remarkably calm during the evacuation.
Technical teams worked into the late afternoon to safely tow the damaged multi-million-euro Airbus jet off the grass and clear the runway. The exact cause of the sudden drift remains unknown. Speculation among aviation experts points to either a severe localised wind gust or a sudden power/engine asymmetry during acceleration. Official meteorological reports (METAR) from around the time of the incident confirm that weather conditions at Split Airport were highly volatile. At approximately 13:30, the airfield was experiencing heavy rain showers, reduced visibility, and sudden wind gusts reaching up to 27 knots (around 50 kilometres per hour). Investigators are looking heavily into whether a sudden, severe crosswind gust during the critical high-speed phase of the takeoff roll destabilised the aircraft, forcing the pilots to initiate the emergency abort.
It looks like engine failure to me.
ReplyDeleteNot good.
Of course it’s engine failure. Luckily it happened still on the ground. Those PW junk should be banned ASAP
DeleteIt could be engine failure but what is also concerning and one can see it in the videi is lack or complete absence of movement on the vertical stabilizer. The pilot should have pressed the right pedal in order to get the plane back on the middle line of the runway. But clearely there is no such action beeing performed here otherwise we would have seen the vertical sabilizer fin rotating to the left on the videi.
DeleteI also think it was engine failure. I mean the plane was full and heavy. It would have to be an extremely strong wind to blow it away to such an extent. Also if it was just wind they would take off, they were at that point. They wouldn't abort a take off at such speed just because of wind.
DeleteThis could have been a major disaster as the plane was full of kerosine.
Anon 09.40
DeleteYou are right, I noticed that too. Could it be that the pilot was inexperienced as this is a relatively new model in OU fleet?
Does rudder work differently in A220?
DeleteLuckiily for everyone in plane, pilots did a great job and stopped it on time before take off.
DeleteRudder can help too much while aircraft is still on the ground. And pilot's reaction should be prompt upon failure, which is not quite possible.
DeleteThat looks scary on the video
ReplyDeleteFortunately, nothing serious happened and there were no injuries.
ReplyDeleteJust a few dents on the fuselage and a major dent in reputation.
DeleteThis was very serious, great pilots reaction and good to hear passengers remained calm. Just throw some party every 16.05.
ReplyDeleteHow long will the investigation take?
ReplyDeleteIt can take a year but I assume preliminary findings will be released soon.
DeleteIf it was an engine failure then the preliminary result should be out soon.
DeleteThis is a serious setback for Croatia Airlines.
ReplyDeleteThe crew deserves credit for aborting at high speed and getting everyone out safely. Whatever happened, this could have ended much worse.
ReplyDeleteAt 131 knots this was no minor reject. There must have been a serious reason to abort that late in the takeoff roll. Investigation will be interesting.
ReplyDeleteLuckily they have lots of shiny A220s just sitting around so shouldn't have a problem keeping up schedules
ReplyDeleteHas there been an impact to the OU schedule today?
ReplyDeleteNo. All flights operating normally.
DeleteFirst of all, great to see everyone is safe. If this is engline failurie, it could be a miracle for OU with all the payouts they will get, but there not being a single delay today because of the aircraft out of service, just shows you how underutilized their current fleet is....
ReplyDeleteBig payout maybe. Entire fleet grounded due to engine issues - an even bigger thing. And we’ve seen that scenario with this type of half-baked plane with many operators globally.
DeleteWe all saw the enormous yaw moment at the moment when they started to lift the nose. I seriously doubt that engine failure would be so sudden, same goes for the wind gust. One can feel both and pilots would react accordingly. It is in our second nature to press the pedal when yaw moment starts to appear. This looks more like brake/gear problem
ReplyDeleteYou don't abort a high speed take off if there is a break or a gear problem. They would have taken off and flown to ZAG where an emergency landing would take place.
DeleteAn engine failure is most likely for taking such drastic measure. Pilots decided this plane CANT be in the air no matter what.
@anon 10:50 if a/c was above v1 even with engine out you are going up....that is why a/c is certified to lift off with one engine inop.
DeleteThis was not a crosswind event. It was more likely caused either by a failure of the left engine or by the left brakes seizing, which would explain the asymmetric yaw and directional control issues during the takeoff roll.
ReplyDeleteExactly
DeleteIf it was an engine issue, is it not odd to have an engine failure on engines that are not even a year old?
ReplyDeleteNo, it's not. Actually, it's common for this type of plane. This airframe is almost one year old, which mean that it's just about time to be grounded due to PW engine problems. OU knew about this issues, yet they proceed with selfdestruction process.
DeleteThat was quite serious on the runway. Thankfuly everyone is safe.
ReplyDeleteDon't want to jump to conclusion, but from my humble experience and knowledge, looks like eng 1 failed. You can see during the reject phase when the plane is over the grass that a dust and vapour clould is being kicked up infront of the engine #2 (reverse thrust reaction) but there is barely any evidence of the same infront of eng#1.
ReplyDeleteGreat job to the pilots rejecting at such high speed on a very wet/contaminated ruway!
No sane pilot would reject take off close to V1 due single engine malfunction and engine diesn't just die in a second and asymetric moment is not that strong
DeleteYou must reject before V1! (We're talking about engine malfinction). After V1 you must continue otherwise you may not have enough runway left to safely stop.
DeleteI'm impressed how quikcly SPU managed to reopen. I hope they did a FOD check. Kind of unbelievable they managed to perform emergency evacuation, tow a damaged plane and do a FOD check in just two hours.
ReplyDeleteCroatia Airlines’ insurance company had a very bad afternoon.
ReplyDeleteThe real question is whether this was technical, human error, or runway related. Until then, all assumptions are pointless.
ReplyDeleteDon't worry lots of experts on here will decide
DeleteEvery week lately seems to bring another operational or financial problem for this airline.
ReplyDeleteI assume more destinations cuts this summer are going on the cards.
ReplyDeleteOne of the passengers on the flight. We sat for 5 hours at the terminal with ZERO communication from the airline. Feeling very sore from the jolt of the stopping.or whatever. NO ONE checked on us. Offered only 1 drink for each person and the 2 women at the information desk yelled at everyone who asked for information these women SHOULD NOT be working at information.
ReplyDeleteVery Bad organization Croatia Airlines. DEFINITELY GOOD IN A CRISIS. I have videos & picture of how we were TAKEN care of!!!
That's really terrible!
DeleteIn an incident like this, any idea how long the plane will be out of service?
ReplyDeleteDo stop blaming Croatia Airlines here. Whatever the cause was, incredible job by pilots here. My 2 cents: engine issues. A220 is great from a passenger standpoint but what a troublesome aircraft. There must be a reason if some of the leading global airlines (e.g. Turkish) have not even considered it.
ReplyDeleteWait for preliminary official findings. Pilots are trained for engine out scenarios and some might have kept the aircraft on the runway. You don't have any proof if they did an incredible job or not.
DeleteAll of this stuff with trouble with new airplanes over the last 20 years or so. Dreamliner infinitely many years behind schedule and then burning up in the air. 737 MAX with its beautiful (occasionally malfunctioning of course) software-driven solution to the engines being too heavy. Now this and all other problems with A220. Was this always so? We are talking about the two largest and most reputable aircraft manufacturers in the world seemingly unable to get their act together and roll out a new aircraft that can be depended on from day one. Was this always the case, or is it that the corporate bean counters have taken over and nobody is listening to the engineers anymore?
ReplyDeleteStop the investigation, this guy is certain Airbus and Boeing are at fault here!
Delete