A routine afternoon at Los Angeles International turned into aviation drama when a Lufthansa Boeing 747-8 arriving from Frankfurt aborted its landing — after the wheels had already touched the tarmac.

The incident unfolded on runway 24R, when the aircraft, registered D-ABYK, made contact with the runway and then suddenly lifted off again. Footage captured by Airline Videos Live shows the nose rising steeply, with the tail appearing to come uncomfortably close to the pavement. Despite how it looks on camera, no tail strike occurred, and the jumbo jet climbed away cleanly.

Roughly 15 minutes later, the crew brought the 747 back around for another approach, and this time it landed without incident. Nobody was hurt and the aircraft was undamaged — but the video has been making the rounds among aviation watchers precisely because of that dramatic pitch-up moment.

Why would pilots abandon a landing after touchdown? The most plausible read is that the aircraft floated down the runway longer than ideal, touching down well past the normal touchdown zone. That leaves less runway to brake, and on a heavy 747-8, pilots want plenty of margin. Rather than force a hard braking manoeuvre, the crew executed a go-around — a completely standard safety procedure, even if it can be jarring for passengers who thought they were already on the ground.

It is worth resisting the temptation to over-analyse from a video clip alone. The writer at Live and Let's Fly, who watched it happen at their home airport, cautions that we don't know exactly what the pilots were thinking, and that the tail's apparent proximity is likely less dangerous than it appears to the naked eye. Still, "a bit too close for comfort" seems fair.

For travellers, the takeaway is a reassuring one: go-arounds after touchdown are rare but well-practised manoeuvres, and crews choosing to climb away rather than push a marginal landing is exactly the safety culture you want at 400 tonnes. Frankfurt–Los Angeles aboard the 747-8 remains one of the classic long-haul routes, and spotting the Queen of the Skies arrive at LAX is a minor aviation pastime — locals famously watch from the In-N-Out Burger on Sepulveda Boulevard, right by the runway.

Image: @airlinevideos/X