Norwegian Airline pilots blame “bad signage” for almost over shooting the runway at Gatwick in March.

The jumbo jet, which had 270 people on board, was just 600m away from the end of the runway before it took to the skies at 155mph.

The pilots flying the Boeing 787-9 said they never realized that they had taxied 417meters past the start of the runway.

The crew told investigators that they do not recall seeing any signs before takeoff. They reported that the take-off “seemed normal” with one crewmember adding: “The runway looked pitch black and the only thing we saw was the green lights.” The Mirror reported.

The plane was also 12tonnes too heavy to take off from the point that it began to fly. The Daily Mail reported.

Four other flights failed to take off on the standby Runway26R at Gatwick, between September 2017 and March 2018.

The Air Accident Investigation Branch released a report after looking into the March incident. The report revealed that “After departure both pilots commented that there was not much runway remaining at lift-off.'

“The crew did not identify the beginning of the runway and taxied forward to the landing threshold before beginning their take-off.

“This decreased the take-off distance available and meant that the aircraft did not meet regulated performance requirements for its actual take-off weight.

“The distance available for the take-off would have been insufficient had an aircraft engine failed and had the crew decided to stop.”

The investigators also added that any attempt to abort take-off would have triggered a catastrophic overrun.

The airport has promised to increase awareness of the beginning of the runway especially at night.

By Airport Pickups London