Missing aircraft tire found in north Vietnam airport

ERJ staff report (BC)

Ho Chi Minh City – A Vietnam Airlines ATR-72 airliner’s front tire which went missing without the crew’s noticing until the plane finished a flight early this week was found, four days later, at the Hai Phong airport that it had departed from, Thanh Nien News reported.

A search team found the tire in a grass field which is some 1.15km from the runway from which the aircraft took off for the central city of Da Nang on 21 October.

Together with the aircraft’s broken tire axle, the tire will be sent to France’s Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety, which is collaborating with the manufacturer to clarify the incident’s cause, according to local aviation authorities.

The crew, including two pilots, had reported finding nothing abnormal during preflight checks and during the flight. The take-off and the landing were also reported as smooth.

The airplane arrived at its destination safely with 41 passengers who were not aware of the incident. It is four years old and last underwent maintenance on September 21.

Following the incident, Vietnam’s aviation authorities ordered inspections of all 14 ATR-72 airplanes of Vietnam Airlines. Technicians found nothing wrong with their front tires.

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Full report from Thanh Nien News