A technical snag led to the touching down of an IndiGo ATR aircraft with the main landing gear’s hydraulic brakes reportedly engaged, which may have led to the tyres bursting in Hyderabad last Wednesday.Published on : Wednesday, April 4, 2018
A technical snag led to the touching down of an IndiGo ATR aircraft with the main landing gear’s hydraulic brakes reportedly engaged, which may have led to the tyres bursting in Hyderabad last Wednesday.
The plane, which was flying in from Tirupati and had 72 passengers on board, had then remained stuck at the Hyderabad runway for several hours before it was removed.
A preliminary probe by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) has revealed that the pilots of the turboprop inadvertently engaged the plane’s hydraulic parking brake during flight. Unlike, say a car, where brake pedal needs to be pressed to slow down or stop it, engaging the ATR’s hydraulic parking brake meant that oil pressure — for braking effect — was built up in the main landing gear.
According to sources, without realising this, the landing gear was lowered. Once the ATR touched down, the main landing gear already had brakes on and its tyres could not rotate freely due to that. The friction led to heat and all four tyres burst.
Tags: indigo, IndiGo ATR aircraft