The nose wheel of a Boeing 757 passenger jet operated by Delta Air Lines broke off and rolled as the plane prepared for takeoff over the weekend from Atlanta International Airport, according to the airline and regulators.
An FAA notice released Monday says the plane was lined up and waiting for takeoff at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport when “the nose wheel came off.”
No one was injured in Saturday’s accident, which is being investigated. The Boeing 757 stopped being produced in 2004, making it an older model, unlike the recent mid-air explosion of a fuselage panel on an eight-week-old Boeing 737 MAX 9 jet.
“Tower, it looks like we have a problem,” the Delta pilot said, after being alerted by the crew of another plane that one of the two wheels on the front landing gear had moved, according to a recording on the website liveatc.net .
“Tower, there is a 75(7) on the runway that just lost a front tire,” the pilot of the second unidentified plane told controllers.
The plane, headed to Bogota, Colombia, was towed. The passengers were transferred to a replacement aircraft and the affected aircraft was returned to service the following day.
Boeing has come under increasing scrutiny following the Jan. 5 explosion on an Alaska Airlines flight. No one was seriously injured, but the FAA grounded 171 MAX 9s following the crash.
A Boeing spokesperson referred questions to Delta and noted that 757 production ended in 2004 and the last plane was delivered in 2005.
The age of the 757-200 plane could not immediately be confirmed. Delta said in September that the average age of its 757-200 planes was 26.1 years and that of its 757-300 planes was 20.6 years.
Civil airliners typically have an economic life of 20 to 25 years, but are built to fly longer, within limits.
Safety experts say there is no simple correlation between age and safety, although older planes may need to be monitored for structural stress depending on the intensity of the flight.
Source: Terra
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