Wheel that fell off plane risked landing in ‘urban area’, report finds

By Nick Forbes, PA Scotland

A wheel that fell off a passenger plane during a flight from Edinburgh to Belfast “could have fallen on an urban area” if it had happened later in the journey, an accident investigation has found.

According to the Air Accident Investigation Branch report, one of the two wheels under the nose of the aircraft became detached as it was taking off from Edinburgh Airport at 9.17am on October 31st 2023.

Neither ground crew in Edinburgh, nor the flight crew on board the plane, noticed the wheel had fallen off, and its absence was spotted only after the plane had landed at Belfast City Airport and was being taxied into a stand.

Despite missing one of its two front wheels, the plane was described as “stable”, but additional support was added to the nosewheel to provide protection against the wind.

Once the missing wheel had been reported, both airports carried out runway inspections and local police searched the area under the approach path into Belfast.

The wheel was found next to the runway at Edinburgh, along with a number of components related to it, including the wheel axle nut.

None of the 55 passengers or four crew on board the plane were injured and, besides the missing wheel, the aircraft itself was undamaged, and nor was there any damage to “airport infrastructure”.

However, the report indicated the incident could potentially have been much worse.

“There were no indications to the flight crew during the flight that the nosewheel had detached from the aircraft, and it was not easily detectable in Edinburgh because it came to rest away from the runway surface”, the report said.

“Communications by airport staff meant any debris was located promptly.

“Aside from risks inherent to debris on active runways, had the nosewheel detached during the approach at Belfast, it could have fallen on an urban area.”

An investigation into the incident found that “bearing overheat” had caused the axle on which the wheel was mounted to fracture, through a combination of “thermal shock and liquid cadmium embrittlement”.

It said the specific cause of the overheat could not be “positively determined”, but that there were a number of potential contributing factors linked to “non-conformances with approved maintenance procedures”.

These include, the report said, the over-greasing of bearings, the lack of “wheel balancing weights”, or the presence of an “interposition product” between the two half-wheels.