Who noticed the missing wheel?
According to the post, it seems it was
ATC. So good job on their part for checking. Not that the flight crew didn't do
a good job bringing the plane down on the remaining wheel.
Actually, how
would a flight crew even notice a missing nose wheel, alert or not?
Also, I wonder whether or not anyone on the ground at the departure location
ever noticed a spare wheel lying around?
And how many tower controllers would notice one missing nose wheel?
I wondered if somebody at the departure end hadn't noticed it coming off, passed the word, and ATC at the destination simply visually confirmed it was missing? That would be consistent with the way the story was reported, given the lack of diligence of the media in general...