Summary
- Delta Air Lines Boeing 757 loses nose tire, temporarily closing runway at Atlanta Airport.
- One other Delta 757 had tire trouble last summer, but all passengers evacuated safely.
- Affected aircraft has since flown to San Juan before being pulled from lively service.
A Delta Air Lines Boeing 757 lost considered one of its nose wheel tires while lining up for take-off in Atlanta. The wheel would find yourself rolling off the runway and down an embankment, temporarily closing the runway.
Delta 757 nose tire incident
On January twentieth, Delta Air Lines flight DL982, scheduled from Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport (ATL) to Bogotá El Dorado International Airport (BOG), lost a nose tire while taxiing into position on runway 27R. Because the plane – a Boeing 757-200 (registration: N672DL) – taxied onto the runway, considered one of its nose wheels became loose and separated from the aircraft.
Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Easy Flying
It was first spotted by the pilot of one other aircraft behind DL982 within the queue, who radioed it in to air traffic control (ATC), saying “”
The pilot then radioed, “,” to which the Delta pilot responded, “.”
The flight had 184 passengers onboard, who were faraway from the aircraft and placed on a substitute flight. This was operated by one other Boeing 757-200 (registration: N6707A) that arrived in Bogotá at a delay of over five hours.
Last summer, one other Delta 757 had tire troubles after bursting a tire upon landing in Atlanta. The left landing gear would briefly catch fire, forcing pilots to order an emergency evacuation. The 190 passengers onboard left the aircraft through the emergency slides, all exiting safely without injury.
Towed over two hours later
The 757 remained on the apron for over two hours because it waited for maintenance teams – in accordance with an AvHerald report, the plane was towed away around two hours and 10 minutes later, before the runway reopened. Other flights waiting behind the Delta 757 were sent to different runways, and a maintenance team was sent to locate the tire and determine why it broke off from the plane.
As this investigation is ongoing, the airline has yet to disclose what exactly caused a whole wheel to disconnect from the landing gear. The affected aircraft is a 32-year-old 757 delivered to Delta way back in 1992 – in accordance with data from ch-aviation, the plane has amassed over 96,600 and 42,350 flight cycles as of August 2023.
Back within the air a day later
Data from flight tracking site Flightradar24 shows that N672DL managed to fly to San Juan (SJU) lower than 24 hours after losing the wheel. On January twenty first, the plane flew to San Juan before returning to Atlanta the identical day.
Photo: Andrew Mauro I Shutterstock
Nevertheless, the aircraft has not operated any more flights since, remaining in Atlanta for greater than two days and counting. It’s unclear why precisely the plane has been pulled from lively service – Easy Flying has reached out to Delta for comment and can update this story accordingly.
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