Flybe lose a Wheel

[starrymarkb]

Very amused to see the sensational reporting about this incident (n March but AAIB report is out today). The AAIB have traced it to a siezed bearing, bit surprised none of the passengers reported the wheel coming off..

 

[bb21]

I wouldn't want to be one of those travelling.

 

[Nym]

Quick, theres a problem with a wheel on a plane, lets take the whole type out of service for 6 months while we fit kevlar to the fuel tanks...

 

[lookingforit35]

One of the attractions of the Q400s is the being able to see the wheels from the window - and it looks like this was pretty useful on this occassion!

Sadly not the first time this has happened to Flybe, and some of their Q400 fleet came from SAS who were effectively forced to sell them as the landing gear collapse issues had cropped up too many times, leading the public to become nervous. Apologies for the link to the Daily Mail but it was the most succint article I could find.........

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ncy-landing-wheel-falls-flight-Newcastle.html

 

[starrymarkb]

One of the attractions of the Q400s is the being able to see the wheels from the window - and it looks like this was pretty useful on this occassion!

Sadly not the first time this has happened to Flybe, and some of their Q400 fleet came from SAS who were effectively forced to sell them as the landing gear collapse issues had cropped up too many times, leading the public to become nervous. Apologies for the link to the Daily Mail but it was the most succint article I could find.........

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ncy-landing-wheel-falls-flight-Newcastle.html

Most of the SAS problems were traced to poor maintiance though, they were using wrong o-rings in the lock mechanism IIRC - interesting that their replacements from Bombardier were more Q400s!

 

[BestWestern]

Surely this is just plain old fashioned shoddy maintenance? Are we just talking bolts working loose here or a component actually failing through metal fatigue or somesuch? No doubt this will very shortly be the safest aircraft fleet in the world with the wheels being checked at very regular intervals!

 

[starrymarkb]

Surely this is just plain old fashioned shoddy maintenance? Are we just talking bolts working loose here or a component actually failing through metal fatigue or somesuch? No doubt this will very shortly be the safest aircraft fleet in the world with the wheels being checked at very regular intervals!

The wheelbearing siezed...

The AAIB report is here - http://www.aaib.gov.uk/publications/bulletins/november_2011/dhc_8_402_dash_8__g_jedr.cfm

 

[Nym]

So inspections were not properly maintained or it was not correctly greased then...

 

[Schnellzug]

At least they didn't have to do a LOT.

 

[WestCoast]

interesting that their replacements from Bombardier were more Q400s!

Not fully. SAS mainline received Bombardier CRJ-900 jets instead, with their subsidiary, the Norwegian regional carrier Widerøe and a close partner airBaltic (national airline of Latvia), receiving more Q400s out of the deal.

SAS mainline don't operate the type anymore. However, comparisons with other Q400 incidents are not helpful. Other aircraft types (such as the DC 10) had difficult periods but they went on to be highly respected aircraft types.

It's worth pointing out that these sorts of incidents happen more regularly than forum readers might imagine, however thanks to the professionalism of staff and other factors, accidents are rare.