Gents, just a little sideline for your interest. Possibly the clearest video of a tire failure on takeoff I've seen.http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=dd4_1307092520

Ouch.....Amazing find!

Oh wow.I wonder if there's a corresponding video of that aircraft landing...

I saw this yesterday on another forum and was surprised to read they continued on to GRU. I also read the return flight was canceled, but I don't know why that was.

I saw this yesterday on another forum and was surprised to read they continued on to GRU. I also read the return flight was canceled, but I don't know why that was.

Total speculation on my part but perhaps they determined on closer inspection at GRU that there was some damage that needed to be fixed before it could return to service.

Total speculation on my part but perhaps they determined on closer inspection at GRU that there was some damage that needed to be fixed before it could return to service.

Very true, that one tire could easily have cut the other tires, or a brake line, or a piece could have flown up and damaged the skin or some internal part. Vulcanized rubber impregnated with steel wire can cause a lot of damage when traveling at high speeds.

Total speculation on my part but perhaps they determined on closer inspection at GRU that there was some damage that needed to be fixed before it could return to service.

Yeah, I'd imagine they had to fix something. Well, other than the tire/s that is. At least we know it couldn't have been too bad if the plane made it 10 hours without issue.

Did the tire fail after V1?

Where I work if you blow a tire on a dual tire assembly even if the remaining tires look good you change them anyway. Cause there could be damage not obvious to the naked eye, or the tires could have been stressed beyond their limits. So chances are they changed the tires, and I imagine at those speeds some debris got flung up and hit the airframe. So maybe some minor metal/fiberglass repair to be done before putting it back into service.

I suppose if you are in the air and there's nothing affecting the flight controls, you might just as well fly to the destination as come back to the departure airport, since either way you are going to have to land. If the thing can fly alright, the only reason not to continue would be if you though you might be landing out where maintenance would be difficult.Al

My best guess is by the time they knew what was happening they were close to or exceeded V1. Additionally, if you do a rejected takeoff with 10 hours of fuel, cargo and passengers at or near V1. The damage to the aircraft will most likely be much worse if not the worst case scenario. I think these pilots were spot on with their decisions from what I can see... No matter what ouch...! I wonder how many people could sense is something different was happening...?

I suppose if you are in the air and there's nothing affecting the flight controls, you might just as well fly to the destination as come back to the departure airport, since either way you are going to have to land. If the thing can fly alright, the only reason not to continue would be if you though you might be landing out where maintenance would be difficult.

I certainly wouldn't feel comfortable flying 11 hours if I knew I had a tire blowout on takeoff. But that just might be my conservative nature when it comes to things like this.

My best guess is by the time they knew what was happening

I'm not sure they knew it happened. Someone posted on A.Net that Delta maintenance was looking at pictures of the debris trying to figure out if they were from a Delta tire or not. Don't think they'd need to do that if they knew it happened.

We need to remember that tire damage can have a disastrous consequence, as evidenced by the Air France Concorde flight at LFPG. That was one of those one in a million chances, with the tire part setting off a fuel tank leak and fire, but it does show at high speeds it's something to take seriously.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99qxsturvVQ&feature=feedrec_grec_index

Monday morning quarterbacks:Excuse my ignorance... but does a blown tire trigger a master caution or master warning instantaneously?Next, would you trust the remaining tires to bring you to a rapid halt on the runway on a rejected takeoff? Remember you're loaded for a 5000 mile trip, the engines are spooled up, and the ground handling is bound to be asymmetric.Finally, assuming you proceed with the takeoff, what is involved in returning to Detroit? Dump or burn fuel at least until the max landing weight, but perhaps you don't want to land with tanks still considerably full (extra weight on the remaining tires, more momentum to dissipate on landing, and more fire potential). So the fuel is wasted, no one gets to their destination, and no one is left measurably any safer... but you do get the greater maintenance resources at the hub I suppose.Plus, let's remember that BA has a habit of continuing longer journeys even after losing an engine on departure.http://www.aaib.gov.uk/cms_resources.cfm?file=/Boeing%20747-436,%20G-BNLG%2006-06.pdf