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Old 9th April 2010 | 22:52
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The Wheely King
 
Joined: Jul 2009
Posts: 7
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From: in search of forever
Without a complete serviceable set of wheels and tyres your clean aircraft becomes a clean statue, wheels and tyres are very overlooked and i fear to the deterement of many airlines.tyre pressures are ultra crucial and should be checked at every stop,if practicable as hot or warm tyres should not be checked for their pressures as this will be elevated by the heat held in the tyre casing and the heat in the brake cassette that slowly radiates away,it is recomended that the tyre should be tested with the back of the hand and if it is hot to the touch it is to hot to check and this would be deemed cool enough to be checked after three hours,there is a safety aspect as well an aircraft wheel inflated to 200psi is a bomb waiting to go off and many ground engineers have been seriously injured and some have been killed by hot tyres suddenly exploding for no reason,research has been carried out by the US navy on the destructive force in an exploding aircraft tyre and it has the equivalent force as the detonation of two and a half sticks of dynamite. deflated tyres can run for long enough for the a/c to clear most if not all runways but will have to be removed as well as its axle twin once the a/c is on stand,and both wheels have to be marked for overhaul and the flat one must also have further more investigative action carried out to determine the reason for deflation and the integrity if the wheel hub also has to be checked,I can safely say that the last 8 out of 10 deflation cases I have dealt with the axle twin once checked the wheel hub had failed NDT with stress cracks due to this being the remaining inflated wheel taking all of the weight.A tyre can also burst due to the rapid build up of heat from a long taxi with a heavily loaded a/c.Not only should tyre pressure be checked but shine the torch into the wheel and check the tie bolts they do shear and this can also lead to a slow loss of pressure in a wheel and it is also a reason to remove a wheel.Above all be safe around hot wheels and tyres if they have to be removed and are not going back on DEFLATE THEM it may be a noisy pain in the arse,it may save a life or two and stop and blast damage to the a/c and anything within an easy 50-100 yard radius.
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