What happened
During the takeoff roll, while the aircraft was traveling at a speed between 85 and 90 knots, the right main landing gear tire failed. This failure caused the aircraft to veer toward the right side of the runway. The pilot was unable to regain control of the aircraft, which subsequently departed the runway, spun around, and experienced a collapse of the landing gear. The sequence ended when the aircraft collided with the airport fence, where it eventually came to rest. There were no injuries reported.
The investigation
An examination of the right main landing gear tire revealed that the recap had separated from the tire. This separation caused the tire to stop rotating, which resulted in rapid air loss and significant friction damage. Records indicated that the tire had been recapped on November 17, 1999, and was installed on the aircraft on February 15, 2000. At the time of the accident, the tire had accumulated a total of 45.2 flight hours since its installation.