What happened
Upon arrival at Katowice Airport (EPKT), a maintenance engineer performing an inspection on a Boeing 737-800 discovered severe damage to the left main landing gear number 1 tire. The inspection also revealed several structural damages to the aircraft, including damage to both lower elements of the left inner wing flap, the left inner main landing gear door, the horizontal stabilizer leading edge, and three lower access panels on the left wing. The nature and location of these damages suggested they were directly caused by the tire failure.
While no tire debris was found on the maneuvering area at EPKT, the ground handling agent at the departure airport, LTAI, confirmed that fragments of the damaged tire had been found on the runway. These fragments were subsequently sent to Warsaw for examination.
The investigation
Investigators performed a partial reconstruction of the tire using the fragments recovered from the departure airport. Technical documentation indicated that the tire had completed 145 cycles and possessed six remaining treads. During the examination of the reconstructed tire, a cut was identified on one of the fragments; investigators noted this cut could have resulted from the tire striking an object or from impacting the aircraft structure after the tread had already separated.
Findings
- The delamination of the tire tread occurred either shortly before or immediately after the aircraft rotated from the runway at LTAI.
- The exact mechanism of the tire failure could not be definitively determined based on the inspection of the tire and the analysis of technical documentation.
- The damaged tire and its detached components were forwarded to the wheel supplier for further specialized testing.