Japan Airlines Boeing 737-800 Suffers Burst Tire On Landing At Kagoshima

Another incident of an aircraft tire burst has surfaced, this time in Japan on a routine domestic flight operated by a Japan Airlines’ Boeing 737 aircraft. Such incidents are not uncommon and several have taken place around the world this year itself.

Japan Airlines Boeing 737’s tire bursts

On November 30, a Japan Airlines ’ Boeing 737-800 aircraft burst one of its tires during a landing following a domestic flight. According to a report by The Aviation Herald, the aircraft was on a routine flight from Tokyo Haneda to Kagoshima.

It was carrying 150 people and landed on runway 34 when one of its main tires on the right burst. Thankfully, there were no injuries reported, and the aircraft was able to vacate the runway and taxi without any further incident.

Flight JL647 is a scheduled service from Tokyo Haneda to Kagoshima with a scheduled departure of 11:45 and an arrival of 13:40. The flight takes under two hours to complete.

The aircraft involved in the incident is a 13.8-year-old Boeing 737-800 registered as JA336J. It was delivered to Japan Airlines in February 2011 and can seat 165 passengers in a two-class configuration, per ch-aviation.

Japan Airlines has 42 Boeing 737-800 aircraft in its fleet, and according to ch-aviation, 40 of those are currently active. The aircraft type carries a significant number of the airline’s domestic flights. Japan Airlines will continue to depend on the 737 family for many more years, having ordered 21 737 MAX aircraft from Boeing in 2023 .

Other tire-related incidents

This wasn’t an isolated incident. Several airlines around the world have suffered tire bursts this year alone. One of the latest ones involved a Jetstar Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner that departed Sydney Airport for Phuket, Thailand on November 27 when it encountered a problem with one of its tires shortly after takeoff.

In October, a Ryanair Boeing 737 MAX 8 suffered a tire blowout after landing at Milan Bergamo Airport . The plane burst “four tires of the rear undercarriage,” causing 450 meters [0.27 miles] of damage to the runway. The airport had to shut down the runway to clean it of all the debris, which affected its operations for several hours.

Photo: Markus Mainka | Shutterstock

In September, an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 MAX blew its tires after it was forced to abort a takeoff . The aircraft was traveling from Nashville International Airport in Tennessee to Seattle and began its takeoff roll down the runway. But just after crossing 100 knots, the pilots had to apply brakes after spotting a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 ahead of them.

How are aircraft tires changed?

The routine maintenance procedures of airplanes also involve checking the conditions of their landing gear. The wear and tear after many takeoffs and landings takes a toll on airplane tires, and they need to be routinely inspected and changed.

Most airlines change their tires every 150 to 400 flight cycles, and the range largely depends upon the aircraft type and the nature of its operations. Simple Flying has done a detailed analysis of this in the article below.

Source: Simple Flying