Deflated/damaged tire taxi limitation on A320/1

[lunarair]

Regarding taxiing with deflated tire limitation. The FCOM differentiates 2 cases. 1. Tire damage 2. Tire deflation without damage.
Can I say:
1. Tire burst after landing is a damage
2. Melting of fusible plug resulting in tire deflation (e.g. Overweight) is a deflation without damage?
In addition, how can one differentiate the 2 case based from info inside the cockpit? And in case of tire damage requiring inspection, who is authorized to do so? Engineer? Fireman? On what ground should the commander justify taxiing without further risk?

[grounded27]

How did older aircraft ever make it to the gate W/O tire pressure monitoring?

[Ollie Onion]

I would think a tire 'burst' with damage would be quite an impressive event. You would no doubt hear it, or hear the parts hitting the fuselage and maybe have a yaw / shudder etc.

Simple tire deflation would be different. If the fuse plug fails due to temp then obviously you are going to have some very high temperature indications on the flight deck which may lead you to having the fire service do a gear inspection.

I have had one tire failure in my whole 12 years on the A320, it was a plug failure due to a fault with the plug. We found out when we parked on stand and the ground engineer asked 'when did the tire deflate?'. We had no idea as there was no handling differences or indication on the flight deck. On inspection it turned out the fuse plug had failed for an unknown reason and the thing had slowly deflated at some point (probably on the taxi in).

[lunarair]

Yeah I would agree with out the TPIS one is difficult to detect any tire abnormality from inside. In your case is there any abnormal indication in the brake temp? Any amber crosses?

[Ollie Onion]

No, the brake temps were normal for after landing around the 200 degree mark. We didn't have a TPIS installed, so there was no indication.

[TURIN]

Regarding cockpit indications. With TPIS.

If the tyre bursts then the ECAM low px indication would show an almost instant zero px on the affected tyre.
If it deflates due to fuse plug then when the ECAM msg appears the tyre px would still be showing some residual px as it deflates.

[grounded27]

I would think a tire 'burst' with damage would be quite an impressive event. You would no doubt hear it, or hear the parts hitting the fuselage and maybe have a yaw / shudder etc.

Watched the contrary, dispatched a DC10-30 at a small airport that used to be a military base. Captain took the wrong route from our ramp to the threshold, forcing her to make a really tight turn to line up for T/O BOOB, we heard it 8000 feet away, I heard her advance thrust and thought (oh S%^T this might get ugly). She took off slinging rubber as she barreled down the runway. Tower told her, they were back on the ground in minutes for a weeks worth of repairs. They did not hear or feel a thing

[Burnie5204]

Depending on where you are you can ask for RFFS or Ops to perform an external inspections and they'll be able to say if it's blown/damaged or just deflated.

[Tinwacker]

Lunarair,
And in case of tire damage requiring inspection, who is authorized to do so? Engineer? Fireman? On what ground should the commander justify taxiing without further risk?

The engineer is certainly qualified and your best bet as he/she would have a headset to connect and communicate the wheel results.
The fireman can assess the damage if any but can not communicate with you directly but would probably do so via the tower.

From my experience, taxy off the runway and call for the engineer to make that assessment. It might be real and if could of course be an indication error. The engineer will be able to advise the captain very quickly...if any immediate maintenance is required.

[dixi188]

If you think you have a tire problem STOP, (unless above your SOP take off speed) tell the tower and get someone to check. There maybe debris on the runway and we don't want another Paris Concorde do we.

[dixi188]

By "SOP Take Off speed" I mean your companies SOP re. rejected T.O. criteria.

My last operator had an SOP that stated "Stop for anything below 100Kts. Between 100Kts and V1, only stop for Fire, Severe Damage, or Aircraft Unsafe to Fly". A tyre burst was not a reason to stop between 100Kts and V1.
This was for A300B-4.