Aircraft passengers saw wheel fall off

But the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) report said that those who had seen the wheel fall from the aircraft on the Exeter to Newcastle flight on March 3 this year did not inform the cabin crew at that point.

Air traffic control told the flight crew a wheel might have been lost and the senior stewardess, asked to inspect the right landing gear area by the captain, was told by passengers of the loss of the wheel.

The pilots decided to return to Exeter using the “alternate landing gear extension” procedure.

As the pilots of the Dash 8 attempted to get the Flybeoperated aircraft down, passengers were moved so they were evenly distributed, the report said.

With the 58-year-old captain having issued a Mayday to air traffic controllers, the 39 passengers adopted the brace position as it returned to Exeter.

The co-pilot contacted the airline’s chief pilot by radio and it was agreed that the crew would use a left-wingdown technique ensuring the left mainwheels touched down on the runway first, with the remaining right mainwheel then being lowered onto the runway as gently as possible.

As it touched down, it veered to the left and the captain had to apply “significant amounts of right rudder” to hold the aircraft steady.

He then used the emergency brake to bring the aircraft to a halt and the passengers were able to disembark through the front left door.

The AAIB said the wheel’s outer bearing had seized and “consequential damage had allowed the wheel to detach”.

The report added that the captain had inspected the right main landing gear before the flight and had not noticed any abnormalities and “given the nature of the bearing failure, it is unlikely that any (abnormalities) would have been visible.

“Having an engineer on board, licensed on the aircraft type, was beneficial and his knowledge was used to good advantage.’’ The AAIB said several safety actions had been initiated following the incident.