Missing nose wheel discovered on Orient Thai B733 after landing
 

Orient Thai Airlines Boeing 737-300 landed at Nanning, China, following an apparently incident-free flight from Phuket, Thailand.

However, post-flight examination found left-hand nose wheel to be missing because of a fractured axle.

The missing wheel remains missing.

Incident: Orient Thai B733 at Nanning on Apr 11th 2016, dropped nose wheel

Surely it should be "Missing nose wheel NOT discovered on Orient Thai....."


:)

Ah sorry but it reminds me of the classic log reports:

PILOT: No.1 engine missing.
ENG: No.1 engine found on the after a short search on the left wing.

More bits falling off OX?

Also happened in 2009 on taxi. Boeing 737-7Q8, registered VH-VBA, and the ASTB conclusion was "The fatigue crack had originated under the influence of residual stresses in the steel surface associated with grinding damage during manufacture, and its initiation was probably hydrogen-assisted from plating processes applied to the journal bearing surfaces."

Orient Thai. Say no more.

Been there done that survived that's all I can say

Check the MEL.

You gotta admit, it speaks volumes for Boeing engineering and design, that a 737 could still take off, fly, and land quite happily, with a nose wheel and half an axle missing. :)

Thats the idea behind dual wheels, a single tyre failure won't have you doing ground loops or digging the nose gear in.

Looks perfectly serviceable to me, for the flight back to base....


The Missing Wheel is most likely bobbing around in the Pacific Ocean, complete with its bearings and associated grease.


Must have been a smooth landing though...

I lost a B732 nosewheel in Kaduna, Nigeria, in 1982.
Still haven't found that one either....

Sounds like that one was nicked.

Is that an overheating mark on the inside bottom of the broken stub?

Or, "Nose wheel found/discovered missing..."

When BEA were operating Elizabethans (Airspeed Ambassadors) in the 1950s they had a habit of shedding the (single) nosewheel. One fell off when the gear was lowered over the centre of Rome - that was never found either!

Was there not a case of (I think a small Airbus at LGW) losing a main wheel on takeoff? The sight of this bouncing bomb hurtling down the runway was scary like heck. I don't know if it took out the LOC aerial or what damage. I'm even thinking the crew might have been overtaken by it. Can't remember what they did when told.

I'd be fascinated to know what force caused the wheel to accelerate once it was no longer attached to the aircraft.

Perhaps the tire expands it's rolling circumference when the load disappears and then the same rotational rate increases its linear velocity?

Obviously not as well behaved as this one: