Originally Posted by
Buster15
So what caused the tyre to fail in the way that it did then?
The missing spacer was a secondary cause but as you say there were a number of contributary factors. However, none would have hazarded the flight had the tyre not failed.
Or had the fuel tanks not been overfilled.
Or the No.1 engine had not ingested a runway light or two.
Or the aircraft hadn't been rotated well below normal speed due that left tracking off the runway....
The latter two of these only played their part because the missing spacer sent the aircraft off to the left. Where it met the metal strip.
So if you want to nominate a 'prime cause' I'd point to the missing spacer.
But I'm happy not to try to pin this on any 'prime cause', but to accept that as in almost every aircraft accident, it's the combination of all of them that resulted in the tragic loss of the aircraft, those on board, and those on the ground.