sorry lame, but not a thing in the media about it, so it can't be true
It is now
Virgin Blue disaster avoided after front wheel falls off plane | Herald Sun
Sarah Wotherspoon
July 27, 2009 10:22am
THE aircraft engineers union has demanded tougher safety checks after the front wheel reportedly fell off a Virgin Blue plane.
A potential disaster was avoided after pilots on the tarmac alerted the Virgin pilot that one of the front wheels had fallen off and told him to take the plane back to the terminal.
The plane was about to take off from Melbourne airport about 8am on Saturday.
Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association national secretary Steve Purvinas told 3AW corrosion was thought to have caused the wheel to come loose.
“What occurred is not a case of a wheel nut to being done up properly,” he said.
“There was some corrosion in the axel which has led to the release of the wheel.”
Mr Purvinas said the plane may have crashed if the pilot had attempted to take off or disaster could have struck when the plane went to land.
“If the aircraft had tried to take off and the corrosion was on both sides the nose of the aircraft, the landing gear, would have dug into the runway and who knows what could have happened,” he said.
“Similarly on landing if the axel had collapsed there, it certainly could have been disastrous.”
Virgin Blue did not return calls from the Herald Sun yesterday regarding the incident.