Landing with damaged landing gear?

Thoie

Twitter rumours say that ICE689 lost a wheel on takeoff, and is currently circling:
http://www.flightradar24.com/ICE689

Is there a "normal" procedure for landing with damaged landing gear?

Bill G

Why would they be circling at 1500ft? I thought they would be holding much higher if they were trying to sort out procedures and burn fuel.

Thoie

They were at 2,000 a few minutes ago, but no idea. It was on its way to Miami, so I presume they'd have a lot of fuel.

Su Campu

It was going to Orlando.

The lower the altitude the quicker they can burn off enough fuel to land. They want to be as light as possible

Aphex

Bill G wrote: »

Why would they be circling at 1500ft? I thought they would be holding much higher if they were trying to sort out procedures and burn fuel.

Somebody made a good point on Flightradar's Facebook page that at that altitude the engines are less efficient and will hence burn fuel quicker.

Hope all goes well.

Thoie

Purported image of the problem:
http://www.ruv.is/files/imagecache/frmynd-staerri-304x180/myndir/hjolastellid.jpg

Hopefully should be grand.

Su Campu

It's heading back to Keflavik now from its holding pattern. Let's see what happens....

Bill G

Looks like it's out of the hold now...

Su Campu

It's landed.

FANTAPANTS

landed

ian_m

Down ok according to twitter.

Aphex

Services are attending to the aircraft right now. From what I can see, it looks like the back left wheel is gone off the left gear.

Su Campu

AvHerald hot off the mark, as usual.

http://avherald.com/h?article=44fc0795&opt=0

An Icelandair Boeing 757-200, registration TF-FIJ performing flight FI-689 from Keflavik (Iceland) to Orlando,FL (USA) with 191 passengers, was enroute over the Atlantic Ocean about one hour into the flight when the crew decided to return to Keflavik after being informed that what appeared to be a main wheel off the 757's landing gear was found at the departure runway. The aircraft burned off fuel, was inspected by a pair of fighter aircraft, performed a low approach to Keflavik's runway 11 about 2.5 hours after departure, a wheel was confirmed missing, and held to burn off more fuel while preparing to land, landed safely on runway 11 at 21:17L (21:17Z) and is currently stopped on the runway.

The aircraft has 4 wheels on each of its main bogeys and is expected to land safely. Keflavik Airport have issued a major alert also calling emergency services around the airport in to assist at the airport.

Iceland's Civil Aviation Authority reported one of the main wheels was found near the runway, the wheel has been confirmed to belong to TF-FIJ. The damage was assessed, a normal landing is expected despite the damage.

Icelandic TV pictures show the left aft outboard main wheel missing, a few sparks within a large cloud of spray off the wet runway were seen from the gear during rollout.

Metars:
BIRK 182100Z 11014KT 9999 FEW025 SCT040 BKN064 05/M01 Q1013
BIRK 182000Z 11010KT 9999 FEW025 SCT030 BKN062 05/M01 Q1013
BIRK 181900Z 12012KT 9999 VCSH FEW025 SCT033 BKN050 06/M03 Q1013
BIRK 181800Z 14013KT 9999 FEW036 BKN061 06/M03 Q1014

Skuxx

From the Avherald

Avherald wrote:

An Icelandair Boeing 757-200, registration TF-FIJ performing flight FI-689 from Keflavik (Iceland) to Orlando,FL (USA) with 191 passengers, was enroute over the Atlantic Ocean about one hour into the flight when the crew decided to return to Keflavik after being informed that what appeared to be a main wheel off the 757's landing gear was found at the departure runway. The aircraft burned off fuel, was inspected by a pair of fighter aircraft, performed a low approach to Keflavik's runway 11 about 2.5 hours after departure, a wheel was confirmed missing, and held to burn off more fuel while preparing to land and has landed safely on runway 11 at 21:17L (21:17Z).

The aircraft has 4 wheels on each of its main bogeys and is expected to land safely. Keflavik Airport have issued a major alert also calling emergency services around the airport in to assist at the airport.

Iceland's Civil Aviation Authority reported one of the main wheels was found near the runway, the wheel has been confirmed to belong to TF-FIJ. The damage was assessed, a normal landing is expected despite the damage.

Icelandic TV pictures show the left aft outboard wheel missing, a few sparks within a large cloud of spray off the wet runway were seen from the gear during rollout

Beaten to it!!

xflyer

How did they know it was gone? I remember the airline I worked for losing a wheel on take off. No one knew where or when and never found it. So we just replaced it. No drama at all.

Merch

xflyer wrote: »

How did they know it was gone? I remember the airline I worked for losing a wheel on take off. No one knew where or when and never found it. So we just replaced it. No drama at all.

I doubt it was "just" replaced, I assume you're taking it for granted there was some incident report done to the relevant aviation authority.

Skuxx

xflyer wrote: »

How did they know it was gone? I remember the airline I worked for losing a wheel on take off. No one knew where or when and never found it. So we just replaced it. No drama at all.

From my reading of the avherald piece airport staff found the wheel after she had taken off and obviously reported it to the flight crew who made the decision to return! I saw their route of flight radar and they had flown a nice distance before returning!

xflyer

Merch wrote: »

I doubt it was "just" replaced, I assume you're taking it for granted there was some incident report done to the relevant aviation authority.

As I was directly involved on the maintenance side I can confirm that, yes an incident report was filed with the relevent authorities. There was some concern about the whereabouts of the wheel. But it was never seen again. It may still be out there somewhere in the vicinity of East Midlands airport. Meanwhile another one was bolted on and the aircraft was back in service shortly thereafter.

I suppose if it had landed on Kegworth or took out a bus load of school kids on the nearby M6, a bigger fuss would have been made:eek:

*Kol*

It will be interesting to see why it came off. Wheel bearing failure the most likely cause unless there was a problem with the installation.

A320

xflyer wrote: »

How did they know it was gone? I remember the airline I worked for losing a wheel on take off. No one knew where or when and never found it. So we just replaced it. No drama at all.

Ha if that was my outfit somebody would be hung!!!!

xflyer

No attitudes were quite different and laid back. Great place to work.