Two Boeing Dreamliner aircraft have suffered major tyre incidents within two days, with two ground crew tragically losing their lives in the most recent accident.
Overnight, a Delta Airlines 757 plane at Atlanta Airport experienced a tyre explosion, killing two ground staff and injuring another.
According to reports, the plane had arrived from Las Vegas on Sunday night. Atlanta fire units and police were the first on scene and flights from the airport were not impacted.
Yesterday, there were reports of a Qantas 787 Dreamliner suffering cracks to panelling and a flap after tread from a wheel was propelled at high velocity into one of its wings during take-off from Rome’s busiest airport en route to Perth.
Photographs of the damaged aircraft show cracks in part of the wing, as well as extensive scuff marks from the tread hitting the aircraft. The damage forced Qantas to temporarily remove the long-haul aircraft from service while inspections and repairs are undertaken.
The incident, onboard Qantas Flight QF6 carrying 195 passengers, occurred during take-off from Leonardo da Vinci International Airport on Friday as the aircraft took off on a 16-hour flight.
Qantas confirmed that tread separated from one of the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner’s tyres during take-off in Rome, damaging the lower right wing of the aircraft.
Pilots and the rest of the crew were unaware of the damage to the aircraft during the flight, and it was only discovered when engineers conducted a walk around of the plane when it arrived in Perth on Saturday.
Cracks were found across two panels and a wing flap and the planes next flight was cancelled.
The 787 will be flown in what is referred as a “ferry flight” without passengers to Sydney or Melbourne for further inspections and repairs before it is returned to service.
Qantas declined to say how long it would take to repair the aircraft.
Images below show the Qantas tyre incident indicating a Michelin brand tyre is in use.
Qantas tyre images from Perth. (Left image source: Sydney Morning Herald. Right image source: Facebook ‘Sam Chui’ – Airline Secrets Exposed)
Source TravelWeekly
