A Delta Air Lines Boeing 757 passenger jet plane lost a nose wheel moments before it was set to take off on Saturday.
Delta Air Lines (DAL) Flight 982 was reportedly in line and cleared for take-off from the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport when the plane behind the Delta Boeing 757 radioed that the plane had “lost a tire,” according to an audio recording to VASAviation.
The passenger plane was reportedly set to take off from Atlanta for Bogota, Colombia, around 11:15 a.m., according to The New York Times.
“Tower, the 75 on the runway just lost a nose tire,” the pilot can be heard saying.
the wheel of a Delta Boeing 757 just flew off while it was preparing to take off at Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport. The wheel then rolled down the runway…
— Gregg Re (@gregg_re) January 23, 2024
could have been catastrophic if it happened a few seconds later
video from 1/20 (VASAviation) pic.twitter.com/mO7Fvzysmx
“Hey, thanks for that!” the pilot of the Delta Boeing 757 can be heard responding. “Delta 982, Tower, sounds like we got a problem.”
The pilot of the Delta Boeing 757 passenger plane adds that they will “try to taxi clear” if possible, before being informed by the Tower to let them know if they’d like to start their “taxi down the runway.”
“Delta 982, this is the aircraft looking at you,” the pilot behind the Delta Boeing 757 says once again. “One of your nose tires just came off.”
The pilot of the passenger jet plane responds by saying he will “talk to maintenance” and see if they could “get a tow in.”
“Tower, this is Delta 1783, you may want somebody [to] come out,” the pilot behind the passenger plane can be heard saying. “Looks like the nose tire ran off the runway towards the end down there.”
The pilot of DAL1783 adds that the tire was seen rolling “off the runway to the south.”
“Looks like it went off the runway probably down the bank down there,” the pilot says, adding that the tire rolled “abeam about Lima Bravo.”
The other planes were reportedly re-routed to other runways while DAL Flight 982 sat on the runway for three hours, according to VASAviation.
According to a preliminary report from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), none of the 184 passengers or six crew members were injured.
In recent weeks, there have been heightened investigations surrounding Boeing aircraft after a door plug fell off an Alaska Airlines Flight 1282, a Boeing 737-9 Max, while in the air at 16,000 feet. Due to the loss of the door plug, a window section blew out leaving a gaping hole.
After the incident, the FAA issued a statement temporarily grounding more than 100 Boeing 737-9 Max aircraft. On Jan. 17, the FAA issued an updated statement that all Boeing 737-9 Max aircraft with door plugs would continue to be grounded until a review was held and the FAA approved of an inspection which met the FAA’s safety requirements.
Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun is reportedly set to meet with several U.S. senators this week in order to answer questions related to the grounding of Boeing 737-9 Max aircrafts, according to Reuters.