Channel Express landing incident Liege.

[Ivan aromer]

I understand that a Channel Express A300, operating for TNT, burst a number of tyres on landing at Liege the other night. Nobody hurt thank goodness, anybody any other information?

[Nopax,thanx]

Indeed 'tis true....burst four tyres, got stuck on the runway. A bit of running around by the network to get everything out, but not too disruptive considering. A/C was back in service soon after.

[Cee of Gee]

Glad to hear all involved ok.:ok:

[Avman]

Blimey guys, bit of a slow day is it? Do you know how many a/c burst a tyre or two every day around the globe? I'm getting a little tired of this melodramatic "burst tyres, nobody hurt" c**p.

[davethelimey]

Slow day maybe, but how is "burst tyre, nobody hurt" melodramatic? Accurate is probably a better term.

[TheOddOne]

Do you know how many a/c burst a tyre or two every day around the globe?

No, but I bet it's only a tiny fraction of the number 20 years ago. Back then, I doubt if a week of shifts would go by without a call for all hands to go and pick up the debris from a shredded tyre left all over the runway. Nowadays, I can go a whole year without it happening on my shift. There seem to have been vast improvements made in tyre technology and the Accident Investigators seem to take a much greater interest in each failure that does occur.

Even when a tyre does lose its tread, the carcass often remains inflated which lessens the chance of unsustainable load being put on the other tyres on the same leg.

Any tyre burst IS potentially serious:
a) you always seem to get structural damage with holes punched in flaps etc
b) there's the potential for ingestion or other damage to other a/c if the presence of the debris isn't noted before the next movement.
c) loss of one tyre on a leg has in the past led to such high loads suddenly being put on the remaining tyres that they've let go, too. I believe this has happened to DC10-10 a/c amongst others in the dim & distant past. I believe this has led to at least one total airframe loss.
d) loss of tyres leading to wheels running on rims cuts up our runway surface and slices open our lighting fittings. This has led to extensive runway closure times leading to revenue losses for all the other operators, not just for the operator with the damaged a/c.

Cheers,
TheOddOne