Wheel falls off

[briantogo]

Greetings,
I'm not a pilot but was hoping someone could settle a discussion I am having with my friends. On March 7th, United Airlines Flight 35 was bound for Osaka, Japan had one of it's rear wheels fall off. It went unnoticed and the plane continued on for an hour before the crew were alerted to the incident. They turned the plane around and landed safely.

Then, on March 13, AA Flight 345 had a blow out on takeoff, but flew to it's destination in LAX. It did not make a emergency landing like the previous example. Our discussion centered around whether it's manditory for a flight to make an immediate emergency landing after losing a wheel, or is it at the pilots discression? Some in our group is saying it's up to the pilot, and in case Flight 35, the pilot could have continued because it happened an hour earlier, as the wheels were already retracted.

I told my friends I would check into it, but am not sure where to start looking for the answer. I know little about aviation, but it seems to me that any such situation would require an immediate need to touch down as soon as possible. I heard arguments from both sides, but am looking for an official answer.

Thanks in advance,
Brian

 

[MauleSkinner]

up to the crew for the most part. The biggest issue is that you really don’t know what kind of collateral damage may have occurred, so flying 10 hours is a different set of risk elements than flying two hours.

 

[Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe]

 

[Sac Arrow]

up to the crew for the most part. The biggest issue is that you really don’t know what kind of collateral damage may have occurred, so flying 10 hours is a different set of risk elements than flying two hours.

Good point.

 

[RyanShort1]

Which location are you more familiar with, which has the better winds / weather, who's firefighting crews do you prefer, and where will the aircraft get the better maintenance after the landing? Lots to consider.

 

[Dan Thomas]

Which location are you more familiar with, which has the better winds / weather, who's firefighting crews do you prefer, and where will the aircraft get the better maintenance after the landing? Lots to consider.

Plus: Where do the passengers want to be stranded?

 

[aterry1067]

Where were each of these flights leaving from? If they were taking off from the contiguous US, then then flight to LAX was not over water. The flight to Osaka was going to be over water for a long, long time. Not many alternate places to land over the Pacific.

 

[RyanShort1]

You also have landing weight limits. You might have to fly for several hours anyway to be able to safely land - and you've got a damaged landing gear anyway, so landing with a LOT less fuel might be a lot less stress on the landing gear than immediately turning around and dumping fuel to get it under the limits.

 

[SoonerAviator]

You also have landing weight limits. You might have to fly for several hours anyway to be able to safely land - and you've got a damaged landing gear anyway, so landing with a LOT less fuel might be a lot less stress on the landing gear than immediately turning around and dumping fuel to get it under the limits.

Might be good to have less fuel in the event of a gear collapse, too.

 

[GaryM]

You also have landing weight limits. You might have to fly for several hours anyway to be able to safely land - and you've got a damaged landing gear anyway, so landing with a LOT less fuel might be a lot less stress on the landing gear than immediately turning around and dumping fuel to get it under the limits.

And--though I admit my ignorance of transport-category aircraft systems is vast--I believe some airliners don't have the ability to dump fuel.

 

[Mikey52]

Ultimately the captain makes the final decision, but. The company maintenance, and flight operations, dispatchers, and the other crew members on board have a great deal of influence on the decision.

 

[kayoh190]

And--though I admit my ignorance of transport-category aircraft systems is vast--I believe some airliners don't have the ability to dump fuel.

The airliners in the OPs post are capable of dumping fuel, although at least at my shop, we're encouraged to find a long runway and land overweight if at all possible.

 

[Rich Holt]

The airliners in the OPs post are capable of dumping fuel, although at least at my shop, we're encouraged to find a long runway and land overweight if at all possible.

That is a far cry from yesteryear when we would launch with a full bag only to dump 2/3rds of it on downwind to make trap weight 60 seconds later. <laughs in mass government fraud waste, and abuse tears>

 

[Larry in TN]

And--though I admit my ignorance of transport-category aircraft systems is vast--I believe some airliners don't have the ability to dump fuel.

The big ones that fly long-haul generally have a fuel jettison system. The smaller ones that flight domestic, and shorter international, do not.

 

[briantogo]

Thanks for all the replies everyone, I'll let my friends know

 

[MauleSkinner]

As Kenny Rogers sang….
“You picked a fine time to leave me, loose wheel!”