Terrifying footage from a plane passenger shows the moment the aircraft’s wheel was spotted racing down the runway as the plane landed with a “bump”.
Footage captured by Kenzie Arkan shows the tyre rolling at speed through the hard mud at the Raja Haji Fisabilillah Airport in Tanjungpinang, Riau Islands, in Indonesia. Shocked travellers looked out of the plane window in horror after the equipment broke free from the mechanical gear and veered off the tarmac, leaving only three of the four wheels still working. Officials said the tyre detached when the Boeing 737 suffered a suspected hard landing in Indonesia on Wednesday morning.
Kenzie said that he “knew something was not normal”. He said: “I felt a bump when we landed, and I knew something was not normal.
“I was looking out of the window and saw the wheel racing next to the plane. It was going so fast, but the plane was slowing down. I was worried about what had happened, I just wanted to leave the aircraft.”
Staff at Indonesian flag carrier Garuda Indonesia said that flight GA288 had left the capital Jakarta on time at 7 am. The accident happened when the plane, PK-GUD, landed just over an hour later.
A spokesman said there were 161 passengers onboard, including eight business class passengers and 153 in economy and they were all able to disembark by around 9:20 am local time. Meanwhile aviation chiefs have launched an investigation into what happened.
Ikhsan, General Manager of Garuda Indonesia’s Tanjungpinang branch, said that the tyre completely detached but there was no panic on the plane. He said: “It wasn’t a tyre burst, but the tyre detached during landing at Raja Haji Fisabilillah Airport in Tanjungpinang.
“We still have to wait for the investigation. All passengers are safe, no one panicked, and they disembarked from the plane at around 9:19 AM local time.”
The same aircraft was forced to delay its scheduled departure from Tanjungpinang to Jakarta. It flew again at 4:46pm local time.
Detached tyres are rare when planes land. However, possible causes include mechanical failure, poor maintenance, hard landings, pressure issues or manufacturing defects.
Meanwhile, an Etihad plane with almost 300 passengers on board was forced to abort take-off after two wheels exploded in January. Etihad Airways flight EY461, bound for Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, was moments from take-off when the incident happened on January 5.
Footage taken at Melbourne Airport shows the Boeing 787 jet surrounded by fire trucks – and foam was applied on the landing gear as a precaution. No injuries were reported and all 289 passengers disembarked safely, returning to the terminal, the airline said.
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