On takeoff, after gear retraction, does the tire temperature?

[con-pilot]

On the 727 tire temperature could be very critical. There were two airframe losses due to hot tire temperature, one a Mexican airlines whose name I have forgotten and a Braniff airliner. With both cases it was a hot day takeoff, preceded by a extended taxi time.

In the case of the Mexican airline's 727, the tire/s exploded and caused the associated wing to depart the aircraft and everyone on board were killed. With the Braniff aircraft, the tire exploded, but the wing, even though severely damaged, stayed attached and the crew managed to land the aircraft. The airframe was written off and parted out.

Back in the 727 days, there was no gear temperature gauges, however, we did have taxi charts that were used to make sure we were under critical temperature for departure. Now it was very seldom that I was ever faced with having to consult these charts, as one did have to land with heavy braking, followed by a long taxi distance, a short ground stop (under 30 minutes) followed by another long taxi to the departure runway. All of this on a hot day. Therefore, unless one had all of the conditions above, tire temperature was not a factor.

The easiest way to check, was just before engine start, was to physical touch the tires and brakes with your bare hand, yeah I know real scientific, if cool to the touch, you were good to go. If they were too hot to put your hand, you consulted the charts, figured out the required cooling time, then waited until that time was up. The few times this happened to me, I or one of the other pilots would recheck the tires and brakes, usually whoever was playing FE that day.

So tire temperature was not something that you took casually on hot days with long taxi distances, after a landing and a short ground stop.

Oh, one procedure we used when faced with the conditions that could cause overly hot tires, was not to use the brakes as much as possible while taxing in , but to use the reverses to slow the aircraft while taxing. That helped and not to use the parking brakes after you stopped on the ramp, as soon as the wheels were chocked, release the parking brake.