An American Airways jet had a reasonably dramatic rejected takeoff at Tampa Airport, and it makes for an ideal video…
American 737 offers with burst tires on takeoff
This incident occurred yesterday (Wednesday, July 10, 2024), and includes American Airways flight AA590, scheduled to fly from Tampa (TPA) to Phoenix (PHX). The flight was operated by a 25-year-old Boeing 737-800 with the license plate N908AN.
At round 7:47AM native time, the jet started its takeoff roll on runway 19R, and as soon as the jet reached a excessive pace, a number of tires burst on the correct hand principal gear. This triggered the crew to reject the takeoff at a pace of over 150 knots, which could be very near the airplane’s takeoff pace.
The airplane managed to decelerate on the finish of the runway (it took the final exit), after which it made a left flip to get onto a taxiway. At that time the airplane held its place, and hearth vehicles had been dispatched, as the correct hand principal gear additionally caught hearth. It took a bit over three minutes from when the airplane got here to a cease till the primary hearth truck arrived.
Passengers had been dropped at the terminal in a bus, and the flight ended up being canceled, with passengers being rebooked on different flights. As you’d anticipate, the jet remains to be on the bottom the next morning.
Under you may see a video of the incident from a floor observer. It’s fairly cool that this was captured on video, although the commentary positive is… one thing.
The pilots did an ideal job… most likely?
In the end the pilots deserve credit score for bringing the plane to a cease, and getting everybody off the airplane safely. In an emergency, being a pilot is extraordinarily anxious, and it’s a must to make some cut up second selections that may have huge implications. As a lot as there are checklists and procedures to observe, there’s additionally a component of following your intestine.
On this case, the pilots could not have instantly identified what occurred. They had been seconds from lifting off, after which they most likely heard a loud bang or thud, checked out their flight devices, after which made the choice to reject the takeoff. It’s factor that they determined to reject the takeoff once they did, and never just a few seconds later, or else the end result may have been completely different.
The Aviation Herald is a good website that covers aviation security incidents, and there’s a knowledgable group of pilots commenting over there. Whereas it doesn’t take away from the pilots of this flight safely bringing the plane to a cease, there are a few fascinating opinions I see expressed there, which I believe are price mentioning.
A number of persons are confused by why the pilots made the choice to show off the runway, quite than simply coming to a cease on the runway. I think about the pilots had been making an attempt to reduce operational disruptions on the airport, however that they had additionally simply handled a significant incident. As one commenter poinjts out:
The video completely illustrates why you must cease on the runway. If any particles had punctured the correct wing with gas pooling subsequent to the correct gear and the plane stopped 90 degs to runway (wind?) heading, this might’ve been British Airtours another time.
Right here’s the accident that’s being referenced.
Others say they’d’ve simply continued with the takeoff roll at such a excessive pace. One pilot means that even Boeing doesn’t advocate rejecting a takeoff above 80 knots for blown tires, however notes that the pilots could not have identified precisely what was occurring:
Boeings personal suggestion is to not reject for a blown tire over 80kts. There are solely 4 gadgets listed to reject for when above 80. Most producers are the identical. The primary motive being v1 relies on most braking with all tires.
That stated, whenever you hear a big bang and vibration it’s simple to misjudge as one thing else. Even a catastrophic engine failure. So the reject whereas not excellent is comprehensible. Nevertheless, please cease on the runway. It supplies simpler entry for the vehicles to get round. To heck with the opposite plane on strategy, they will go round. And the runway is ineffective anyway till any particles is cleaned and a full inspection takes place.
Anyway, none of that is so to remove from the pilots efficiently bringing the airplane to a cease. My level is just to say that I’m unsure there was one proper or flawed response right here. If the pilots had elected to proceed the takeoff after which got here round to land safely, that may’ve been a superbly good response as nicely.
Backside line
An American Airways Boeing 737 suffered two burst tires because it was taking off at Tampa Airport yesterday. Whereas burst tires occur, what makes this fascinating is that it occurred at a really excessive pace, shortly earlier than the airplane was purported to rotate. The pilots made a cut up second choice to reject the takeoff, and introduced the airplane to a cease with little runway to spare.
What do you make of this incident?
