FlySafair has confirmed that one of its flights was forced to return from Johannesburg to Cape Town to return to the airport two and a half hours after take-off due to the fact that the plane's wheel was damaged during take-off. This new incident adds to the track record of disturbing incidents that Boeing, an American company, has recently experienced.
In a statement, the airline stated that the Boeing 737 airliner took off on time from OR Tambo International Airport. However, following takeoff, ground crew members reported that they observed what seemed to be damage to one of the plane's back wheels.
"The crew was alerted to the observation, and the decision was made to return to Johannesburg," revealed Kirby Gordon, a spokeswoman for FlySafair. Gordon also mentioned that the jet was purposefully designed to be able to land with a damaged tire.
The aircraft did a low fly over OR Tambo prior to landing in order to provide the safety and technical crews with the opportunity to visually inspect the landing gear before the final landing.
One of the four rear wheels was found to have departed from its intended path during the take-off, as confirmed by the observers. Among the two wheels that were attached to the left rear landing strut, the wheel that was affected was one of them.
The aircraft touched down at OR Tambo Airport two and a half hours after it had taken off, and as a precautionary measure, response vehicles were deployed to welcome the aircraft.
