A commercial aircraft had to conduct an emergency landing after losing one of its wheels during take-off. A concerned passenger filmed the startling incident as fellow travelers alerted the crew by shouting about the detached wheel rolling on the runway. Airport personnel quickly retrieved the missing wheel and several metal rings.
The airline involved was SpiceJet, operating a Q400 turboprop equipped with a tricycle landing gear system comprising two nose wheels and four main landing wheels. Despite the initial scare, the pilot managed to proceed to the scheduled destination without any further issues.
This unsettling event occurred at Kandla Airport in Gujarat, India, on September 12. The plane safely continued its journey to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport in Mumbai, where emergency response teams were on standby as a precaution.
The aircraft landed at 3:51 pm and taxied to the terminal without requiring assistance. Fortunately, all passengers and crew members emerged unharmed, and normal airport operations resumed promptly, as per reports from What’s The Jam.
This incident followed another recent scare involving a SpiceJet flight at Delhi airport, where a suspected tailpipe fire caused a significant delay for flight SG041 bound for Kathmandu. The airline confirmed that the aircraft returned to the bay as a safety measure after detecting signs of a tailpipe fire on another grounded plane.
In a separate aviation mishap earlier this year, an Etihad airplane with nearly 300 passengers onboard had to abort take-off due to the explosion of two wheels. The incident involving Flight EY461, heading to Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, occurred just as the aircraft was about to depart. Fire trucks surrounded the Boeing 787 jet at Melbourne Airport, applying foam to the landing gear as a precautionary measure.
Thankfully, there were no injuries reported in this incident. An Etihad Airways spokesperson explained that the take-off was halted for technical reasons, ensuring a safe stop on the runway, with emergency services responding promptly to the situation.
Repairs were initiated at Melbourne Airport, with operations temporarily consolidated to one runway for all flight activities. Passengers were safely disembarked and transferred to the terminal, with minimal disruptions to other flights reported during the incident.