Emirates B772 at Dubai on Aug 8th 2010, rejected takeoff

Last Update: July 24, 2015 / 11:28:00 GMT/Zulu time

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Photo of Emirates Airlines A6-EWC, Boeing 777-200 — Emirates Airlines A6-EWC, Boeing 777-200 (Photo credit: markyharky / Flickr / License: CC by)

Incident Facts

Date of incident
Aug 8, 2010

Classification
Incident

Cause
Rejected takeoff

Airline
Emirates Airlines

Flight number
EK-211

Departure
Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Destination
Houston, United States

Aircraft Registration
A6-EWC

Aircraft Type
Boeing 777-200

ICAO Type Designator
B772

An Emirates Boeing 777-200, registration A6-EWC performing flight EK-211 from Dubai (United Arab Emirates) to Houston,TX (USA) with 269 passengers and 18 crew, rejected takeoff from Dubai's runway 12R at high speed. The airplane slowed safely, several main gear tyres deflated.

A replacement Boeing 777-200 registration A6-EWH departed Dubai about 8.5 hours later and is currently (Aug 8th 18:20Z) at FL320 overhead Poland estimated to reach Houston with a delay of 7.5 hours.

Sources inside Emirates said, that the takeoff was rejected at high speed because of some problem with a nosewheel tyre. A total of twelve tyres needed to be replaced following the rejected takeoff.

On Jul 24th 2015 The United Arab Emirates GCAA released their final report concluding the probable cause of the incident was:

The Air Accident Investigation Sector (AAIS) determines that the cause of the event is identified to be a tire tread separation of the right hand nose wheel tire.

Contributing Factors to the Incident

The tire had sustained damage due to FOD.

The captain (ATPL, 10,802 hours total, 6,366 hours on type) was pilot flying, the first officer (ATPL, 6,851 hours total, 1,736 hours on type) was pilot monitoring, the crew was augmented by another captain (ATPL, 10,689 hours total, 2,658 hours on type) and another first officer (ATPL, 6,655 hours total, 2,167 hours on type). The crew computed the takeoff performance, gross mass was 5,767kg/12,700lbs below maximum takeoff mass, the crew correctly computed V1 at 178 KIAS.

The aircraft was accelerating for takeoff on Dubai's runway 12R when at about 170 KIAS a bang was heard and saw tyre debris flying up in front of the aircraft following by serious vibrations from the nose gear. The captain rejected takeoff, the aircraft never exceeded V1, and brought the aircraft to a stop on the center line of the runway with "with ample paved surface remaining". Emergency services responded, the brakes temperatures rose causing the main gear tyres to deflate. The crew started the APU and shut down the engines. Emergency services arrived and cooled the brakes with water. Stairs were brought to the aircraft, the passengers disembarked 25 minutes after the rejected takeoff.

The GCAA analysed: "Following an analysis of the right hand nose wheel tire debris, and the tire inspection report, it is evident that there was an imprint of an object that the failed tire had most probably passed over. The presence of this object, which the tire imprint showed did not have sharp edges or corners, was most likely, the initiating cause of the event. The object was not recovered. Therefore, it was not possible to determine where or when the tire ran over the object. But as the failed casing of the tire had marks of heat, one could argue of how many seconds it takes to generate the heat that was caused by the friction of the casing. It is possible that the object was on the taxi route of the aircraft to the runway, or was most probably on the runway itself. Alternatively, the object could have been “picked-up” by the tire on an earlier occasion. The object caused a deep indentation in the tire and damaged it. This led to the separation of the tire tread during the takeoff roll and the tire pieces were thrown against the underside of the forward fuselage producing a loud banging noise, which was heard in the cockpit. This loud noise created an impression among the pilots that the Aircraft was unable or unsafe to fly. The Commander decided to stop the Aircraft on the runway by executing a high speed RTO."

The GCAA concluded analysis: "A tire failure during the take-off roll could lead to an inappropriate decision to reject a take-off. This was not the case in the Incident under investigation. It is generally known that failure of a tire will result in a longer than calculated stopping distance due to the loss of braking force on the associated wheel. But the nose wheel tire, which failed in this case, is not used for braking. However, it has the potential to lead to additional tire failure due to the high energy and the associated temperatures generated during a high speed RTO. During the Incident the other tire remained intact and the actual tire that threw a tread remained inflated. Nevertheless as the tire pieces were separated they were impacting the fuselage and other areas of the Aircraft. The impact created loud noises and bangs. Due to these bangs the Commander was under the impression that the aircraft was unsafe or unable to fly, and he performed the RTO at a speed below V1. After initiating the STOP actions the speed initially continued to increase due to the momentum of the Aircraft .The speed of the Aircraft then started to decrease and the maximum speed recorded was below the V1 speed. The Aircraft stopped 1216 m before end of runway, without any significant damage, other than that described in paragraph 1.4 of this Report."