BRENT PINHEIRO
Producer
[email protected]
Minutes after landing at the ANR Robinson International Airport on Wednesday evening, the crew of BW213 was notified of something surprising—one of the aircraft’s two nose wheels was missing.
The ATR 72-600, registered as 9Y-TTA, had just operated the Barbados to Tobago sector and was scheduled to operate a final sector between Tobago and Trinidad when the discovery was made. The aircraft was withdrawn from service for repair and passengers accommodated on another flight.
Guardian Media understands the crew was unaware of the issue until they landed in Tobago and did not declare an emergency. It is yet to be determined when the aircraft lost the wheel.
Reached for comment, Caribbean Airlines Corporate Communications Executive Manager Dionne Ligoure would only confirm:
“There was a mechanical issue with a nose wheel on January 22. There was no impact on the schedule and the aircraft was immediately repaired.”
9Y-TTA re-entered commercial service on Thursday, operating as BW432 with service to Grenada.
A wheel falling off an aircraft is a rare occurrence but can happen during the critical phases of flight—landing or take-off—while the landing gears are deployed. Last year, in two separate incidents, two United Airlines jets lost a wheel during take-off. No injuries were reported but in one instance, several cars on the ground were damaged.
Guardian Media understands that though the ATR 72-600 can land safely with one nose wheel, its landing gears are not equipped with a sensor to indicate to pilots whether or not a wheel is missing. The aircraft only has a brake temperature sensor which triggers a warning in the cockpit if the brakes for the main landing gear cross a certain temperature.
The ATR 72-600’s nose wheels are used for steering/directional control.
The cause of the incident is yet to be determined.