Southwest B733 at Orlando on Jun 11th 2017, hydraulic failure as result of burst tyre on departure

Last Update: June 12, 2017 / 20:59:44 GMT/Zulu time

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Incident Facts

Date of incident
Jun 11, 2017

Classification
Incident

Cause
Hydraulic failure

Airline
Southwest Airlines

Flight number
WN-3006

Departure
Orlando, United States

Destination
Pittsburgh, United States

Aircraft Registration
N620SW

Aircraft Type
Boeing 737-300

ICAO Type Designator
B733

A Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-300, registration N620SW performing flight WN-3006 from Orlando,FL to Pittsburgh,PA (USA) with 142 passengers and 5 crew, departed Orlando's runway 17R. While climbing out the crew requested to level off at 10,000 feet reporting they had a primary hydraulic failure, were working the checklists and needed to return to Orlando. The crew advised they needed to perform an alternate gear extension, they would be overweight for landing back and requested delay vectors. ATC reported runway 17L, intended for the return landing, was saturated with rain, a weather cell was moving across the airfield, the crew decided to delay further until the weather had moved away from the aerodrome, gear was down and locked, they would need to burn off fuel for about 30 minutes to get below maximum landing weight, so they would continue to hold rather than divert to Tampa,FL suggested by ATC. ATC reported an Apache flying below the Boeing reported that all gear appeared down and locked, the crew confirmed they had good indications also. ATC asked whether they had tyre pressure indications, the crew replied in the negative, ATC subsequently explained that another aircraft departing 17R after them reported debris, probably pieces of a tyre, on the runway, the crew replied "That may explain some of our problems". The crew now stated that runway 17L/35R wasn't long enough for them, they needed a longer runway. The aircraft entered a hold at 5000 feet to burn off fuel and wait for improved weather conditions and landed safely back on Orlando's runway 35L about 90 minutes after departure, vacated the runway onto taxiway H2 and was towed to the apron. Emergency services confirmed a damaged tyre.

A passenger reported the captain announced about 15 minutes after departure that there was an issue with the aircraft and they would return to Orlando, they needed another about 15 minutes to reduce the fuel load. Another 15 minutes later the captain came on again and explained they had blown a tyre on departure, which probably severed a hydraulic line causing a hydraulic failure. They had manually lowered the landing gear. The passenger reported the continued to fly for about another hour before returning to Orlando, cabin crew prepared them for a possible crash landing. Emergency services met the aircraft after landing.

A replacement Boeing 737-700 registration N7873A reached Pittsburgh with a delay of 4 hours.
Incident Facts

Date of incident
Jun 11, 2017

Classification
Incident

Cause
Hydraulic failure

Airline
Southwest Airlines

Flight number
WN-3006

Departure
Orlando, United States

Destination
Pittsburgh, United States

Aircraft Registration
N620SW

Aircraft Type
Boeing 737-300

ICAO Type Designator
B733

This article is published under license from Avherald.com. © of text by Avherald.com.
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