B747 DREAMLIFTER loses a wheel on take off

[RobPol471 173]

It happened this morning at take off at the apt in Grottaglie LIBG (Italy).

The wheel ended up on a vineyard.

The freighter carrying a 787 fuselage continued its direct flight to Charleston (USA)

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/-VmAs47S-gw

[jay907uk 21]

From watching the video as best as you can, it looks like it lost a tyre rather than a wheel ??

[RobPol471 173]

Hi Jason,

32 minutes ago, jay907uk said:

From watching the video as best as you can, it looks like it lost a tyre rather than a wheel ??

Hi Jason,

These are the photos published by a local online newspaper that show the lost wheel from B747  DREAMLIFTER and the vineyard where it finished its run.

 

https://www.corriereditaranto.it/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/ruota.jpg

https://www.corriereditaranto.it/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/ruota2-768x665.jpg

[n4gix 4,947]

Access Denied 101

What happened?

The owner of this website (www.corriereditaranto.it) does not allow hotlinking to that resource (/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/ruota.jpg).

[Wildblue 245]

Wow, that must've been quite a bounce, think i saw it fly by in Amsterdam.

[RobPol471 173]

7 minutes ago, n4gix said:

Access Denied 101

What happened?

The owner of this website (www.corriereditaranto.it) does not allow hotlinking to that resource (/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/ruota.jpg).

If the photos are not seen this is the link of the article where at the bottom there are the two photos of the wheel.

https://www.corriereditaranto.it/2022/10/11/boing-perde-una-ruota-da-100-kg-2/

[RobPol471 173]

The video of the take-off with the photo of the wheel found in the vineyard.

 

https://youtube.com/shorts/D-rJ8XyAEME?feature=share

[n4gix 4,947]

17 minutes ago, RobPol471 said:

If the photos are not seen this is the link of the article where at the bottom there are the two photos of the wheel.

Thanks. It clearly was the entire wheel assembly, not just the tyre.

[RobPol471 173]

B747  DREAMLIFTER landed on Charleston's runway 15 about 11 hours after departure.

 

https://avherald.com/h?article=4ff87cec&opt=0

[JRBarrett 3,080]

Probably a wheel bearing failure. That would be the typical reason for a wheel to fall off - and/or a cracked axle, but it appears the bearings are completely missing, so I’d lay odds that the bearings disintegrated. Could be caused by inadequate lubrication or an improperly installed or torqued retaining nut.

Even if the crew was aware what happened, continuing the flight was probably the right call - trying do do a potentially overweight landing with a compromised bogie could have led to even more damage to the remaining wheels.

[toucanair 41]

My Sim partner from a 747 type rating I did recently was flying it at the time.

JBarrett is correct. It was a wheel bearing failure.

1 hour ago, JRBarrett said:

Probably a wheel bearing failure. That would be the typical reason for a wheel to fall off - and/or a cracked axle, but it appears the bearings are completely missing, so I’d lay odds that the bearings disintegrated. Could be caused by inadequate lubrication or an improperly installed or torqued retaining nut.