A wheel fell off a passenger plane during a flight from Edinburgh to Belfast, an air accident investigation has found.
The incident, which occurred on 31 October 2023, saw one of the nose wheels detach during takeoff from Edinburgh Airport. Astonishingly, neither ground crew nor the flight crew noticed the missing wheel until the plane landed in Belfast.
The Air Accident Investigation Branch report revealed the wheel detached at 9:17am. Despite the missing wheel, the aircraft remained stable throughout the flight. Upon landing at Belfast City Airport, additional support was provided to the nose of the plane as a precaution.
The report noted the potential for a more serious incident, stating the detached wheel "could have fallen on an urban area" had it come off later in the flight. Following the discovery, both Edinburgh and Belfast airports conducted runway inspections, and local police searched the area beneath the plane's 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.
A spokesperson for flight operator Emerald Airlines said: “Emerald Airlines acknowledges the release of the investigation report by the AAIB regarding flight EI3651.
“The aircraft operated normally throughout the flight and landed safely at Belfast City Airport, where passengers disembarked as normal. At no point was safety compromised.
“As the safety of our passengers and crew is our highest priority, recommendations stemming from any investigation are carefully reviewed for implementation.”
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