dash7lover and the rest:
yes, tire failure is always important, especially in planes with tail mounted engines.
I don't know if air france serves IAH. But wouldn't it be a great coincidence if an air france plane had left a piece of metal on the runway and the continental express plane blew the tires because of it? (reference to concorde tragedy which shows us all how important tires are)
I also wonder what the speed rating on these tires was, and the actual takeoff speed of the aircraft in question. It was very hot in houston, 29c. number of times retreaded might be interesting to know and a comparison to the remaining "good"tires on the right side.
I covered it for CNN on Wolf Blitzer's ''Situation Room'', but all of you seem to watch the other networks.
jon