Virgin Blue in MEL
 

A WHEEL fell off a Virgin Blue plane while it was taxiing towards the runway in Melbourne.

The incident involved one of the budget carrier's 737 aircraft on Saturday.

Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association secretary Steve Purvinas called on the airline to conduct pre-flight safety checks before all flights.

“In this case, we were lucky that the failure occurred on the ground. The release of the wheel assembly in-flight could have seen a loss of aircraft,” Mr Purvinas said in a statement today.

“Unless action is taken, future incidences could be much more serious.”

Mr Purvinas said Virgin Blue did not undertake engineering safety checks before most flights.

:eek::eek::eek: seriously?

Incident already being covered
 

This incident is already being covered in the appropriate DG&P forum.

Mods, please merge/close?

:hmm: