A British Airways Concorde in 1985
Photo Credit: Eduard Marmet (https://tinyurl.com/t626sac7)
Is it safe for planes to take off with blown tires?
This really depends on the type of aircraft, the speed when the blowout occurs and the consequential damages. While such incidents are rare, cases of planes successfully taking off and landing after blown tires are not unheard of, with the exception of one tragic Concorde accident.
In scenarios where a blown tire occurs, the pilot’s decision to proceed or abort take off is critical. The decision often depends on the take-off speed at which the blowout occurs. If the tires blew out below 80 knots, it’s generally considered safer to abort the take-off; however, rejecting at higher speeds or near the decision speed is deemed a high-risk manoeuvre.
When pilots opt to continue the take-off despite the blown tires, they typically avoid retracting the landing gears and instead climb to a safe altitude to dump excess fuel. Subsequently, they may plan to return and land on a longer runway. Occasionally, a low-altitude flyby near the control tower is conducted to allow controllers to assess the extent of damage visually before landing.
Surprisingly, continuing take off after a blowout at higher speeds is often safer than attempting to reject the take-off. This rationale stems from the compromised brake efficiency due to the blown tire, making high-speed stops on shorter runways considerably riskier. The pilot must also consider reducing aircraft weight by disposing excess fuel, enabling a lower-speed landing.
An illustrative incident occurred in August 1999 when an Airtran Airways Boeing 737 experienced a blown tire during take-off from Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. The captain chose not to perform a high-speed abort and landed the plane back at the airport safely.
Landing with a blown tire is generally manageable, thanks to tire production technique aimed at preventing catastrophic events. Aircraft tires are designed for around 300 cycles or take-offs and landings before being re-treaded up to five or six times, ultimately replaced with new ones. Maintenance crews inspect for tire wear daily and conduct tests if required, to gauge carcass strength for further retreads.
Most airliner tires are inflated to over 200 psi, approximately six times the pressure of your car tires and filled them with nitrogen instead of regular air. Nitrogen offers a stable, moisture-free environment that minimizes corrosion and rubber oxidative degradation. Furthermore, aircraft tires are designed to withstand the load of adjacent tires in the event of damage or blowout,
Blown tires can be caused by various factors. Nonetheless, modern planes are well-equipped to handle such incidents, with landing on blown tires presenting minimal concern today. And the public rarely get to hear about it because, in the vast majority of cases, there is no drama involved.
Watch a YouTube video ‘The REAL story About the Crash that Killed Concorde!’
here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-nALYF73hU