What happened
On October 4, 2013, a Tecnam P2006T operated by Bartolini Air was performing a training flight at Łódź Airport (EPLL). During the landing roll on runway 25, the pilot reported damage to the right main landing gear tire. The aircraft exited the runway under its own power and came to a stop on taxiway Bravo. Upon inspection, the crew requested assistance to tow the aircraft to the hangar. Following the incident, airport fire services inspected the runway and recovered a severed valve stem from the aircraft's tire.
The investigation
The investigation examined this specific incident alongside several subsequent, similar occurrences involving the same aircraft type within the operator's fleet. The frequency of these events was analyzed, noting a rate of approximately one incident per 713.5 flight hours and 1,149 operations.
Maintenance personnel performing repairs discovered small beads of compressed rubber powder inside the tires. This finding suggested that abrasion was occurring at the interface between the inner tube and the tire casing, which subsequently weakened the sidewalls of the inner tubes. The investigation concluded that the issue was a material defect inherent to the internal structure of the tire itself.
Findings
- The primary cause of the tire failure was the loss of strength in the inner tube sidewalls due to abrasive phenomena caused by the specific quality and internal material structure of the tire.
- The issue was identified as a manufacturing/material quality problem rather than operational error.