In a report published by Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB), a Boeing 737-800 operated by Jet2 (G-JZHL) was found to have insufficient thrust during take-off at the Kuusamo Airport in Finland on December 1, 2021.
The reports states that the incident took place because during take-off, the flight crew inadvertently left the thrust set at the 70% engine run-up setting rather than the 89% required for take-off. This caused the aircraft to become airborne with only 400 m of runway remaining and climb slowly. At 250ft agl, the flight crew realised they had insufficient thrust and applied the correct power. The flight continued with no further incident and no injuries to the crew.
This incident was caused by the thrust not being set correctly, due to the Takeoff Go-around (TOGA) button not being pressed. This happened because the co-pilot was startled by the aircraft starting to move as he commenced the run-up against the brakes, and this occurred because the co-pilot applied insufficient brake pressure. The commander was distracted by a radio call and did not check to see if the thrust was correctly set.
The conclusive report of the incident submitted by the AAIB said that this was further evidence that the current barriers designed to prevent events like these are not fully effective.
Going ahead, the AAIB has made two Safety Recommendations to develop technical specifications and certification standards for a technical solution and to improve the detection of take-offs with compromised performance.