A Qantas Airbus A380-800, registration VH-OQC performing flight QF-32 from Singapore (Singapore) to Sydney,NS (Australia), had touched down on runway 16R when the airplane blew a number of tyres during the roll out. The airplane stopped on the runway, the crew requested fire engines to attend the aircraft. Tower reported he had seen some fire from the brakes during the roll out, the fire had stopped however when the airplane came to a halt. No fire or smoke was visible. Another aircraft lining up behind the Qantas reported seeing sparks from the gear and a lot of rubber on the runway. Emergency services reported, that all tyres on the left hand main gear had deflated and the airplane is sitting on the rims.
Pictorial evidence confirms that only the rear two tyres of the left hand main wheel assembly burst with the two forward tyres appearing still intact.
Sources inside Qantas said, that the brakes on the left hand main wheels locked on during touchdown resulting in the two rear tyres bursting. "The weight and friction of the still locked wheels running along the runway then lead to the wheel assemblies being ground in half, down to the wheel axles, which were also substantially damaged, along with the bogey itself." After realizing from the tower there was fire during the roll out the cockpit crew alerted the cabin crew to a possible evacuation, the alert was later cancelled. Due to the resulting angle of the wheel bogie there was no possibility to jack the bogie up, so that the airplane could not be immediately moved off the runway. The passengers disembarked onto the runway and were bussed to the terminal.
Quelle: avherald.com
