An American Airlines jet had a pretty dramatic rejected takeoff at Tampa Airport, and it makes for a great video…
American 737 deals with burst tires on takeoff
This incident happened yesterday (Wednesday, July 10, 2024), and involves American Airlines flight AA590, scheduled to fly from Tampa (TPA) to Phoenix (PHX). The flight was operated by a 25-year-old Boeing 737-800 with the registration code N908AN.
At around 7:47AM local time, the jet began its takeoff roll on runway 19R, and once the jet reached a high speed, multiple tires burst on the right hand main gear. This caused the crew to reject the takeoff at a speed of over 150 knots, which is very close to the plane’s takeoff speed.
The plane managed to slow down at the end of the runway (it took the very last exit), and then it made a left turn to get onto a taxiway. At that point the plane held its position, and fire trucks were dispatched, as the right hand main gear also caught fire. It took a bit over three minutes from when the plane came to a stop until the first fire truck arrived.
Passengers were brought to the terminal in a bus, and the flight ended up being canceled, with passengers being rebooked on other flights. As you’d expect, the jet is still on the ground the following morning.
Below you can see a video of the incident from a ground observer. It’s pretty cool that this was captured on video, though the commentary sure is… something.
Below you can see an excellent VASAviation recreation of what happened, including the air traffic control audio, plus a visualization.
The pilots did a great job… probably?
Ultimately the pilots deserve credit for bringing the aircraft to a stop, and getting everyone off the plane safely. In an emergency, being a pilot is extremely stressful, and you have to make some split second decisions that can have big implications. As much as there are checklists and procedures to follow, there’s also an element of following your gut.
In this case, the pilots may not have immediately known what happened. They were seconds from lifting off, and then they probably heard a loud bang or thud, looked at their flight instruments, and then made the decision to reject the takeoff. It’s a good thing that they decided to reject the takeoff when they did, and not a few seconds later, or else the outcome could have been different.
The Aviation Herald is a great site that covers aviation safety incidents, and there’s a knowledgable group of pilots commenting over there. While it doesn’t take away from the pilots of this flight safely bringing the aircraft to a stop, there are a couple of interesting opinions I see expressed there, which I think are worth mentioning.
Multiple people are confused by why the pilots made the decision to turn off the runway, rather than just coming to a stop on the runway. I imagine the pilots were trying to minimize operational disruptions at the airport, but they had also just dealt with a major incident. As one commenter poinjts out:
The video perfectly illustrates why you should stop on the runway. If any debris had punctured the right wing with fuel pooling next to the right gear and the aircraft stopped 90 degs to runway (wind?) heading, this could’ve been British Airtours all over again.
Here’s the accident that’s being referenced.
Others say they would’ve just continued with the takeoff roll at such a high speed. One pilot suggests that even Boeing doesn’t recommend rejecting a takeoff above 80 knots for blown tires, but notes that the pilots may not have known exactly what was going on:
Boeings own recommendation is to not reject for a blown tire over 80kts. There are only 4 items listed to reject for when above 80. Most manufacturers are the same. The main reason being v1 is predicated on maximum braking with all tires.
That said, when you hear a large bang and vibration it is easy to misjudge as something else. Even a catastrophic engine failure. So the reject while not ideal is understandable. However, please stop on the runway. It provides easier access for the trucks to get around. To heck with the other aircraft on approach, they can go around. And the runway is useless anyway until any debris is cleaned and a full inspection takes place.
Anyway, none of this is so to take away from the pilots successfully bringing the plane to a stop. My point is simply to say that I’m not sure there was one right or wrong response here. If the pilots had elected to continue the takeoff and then came around to land safely, that would’ve been a perfectly good response as well.
Bottom line
An American Airlines Boeing 737 suffered two burst tires as it was taking off at Tampa Airport yesterday. While burst tires happen, what makes this interesting is that it happened at a very high speed, shortly before the plane was supposed to rotate. The pilots made a split second decision to reject the takeoff, and brought the plane to a stop with little runway to spare.
What do you make of this incident?
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