Guest Posted January 29, 2017 Share Posted January 29, 2017 Note the dumb quote from a passenger re the landing. January 29, 2017 8:08 am WestJet flight to Hawaii forced to return to Calgary due to flat tire: passengers By Jodi Hughes Weather Anchor Global News A WestJet flight was followed in by firefighters after reports of a flat tire Saturday night." />; A WestJet flight was followed in by firefighters after reports of a flat tire Saturday night. A WestJet flight bound for Hawaii from Calgary Saturday night was forced to turn around after about 50 minutes, according to reports from passengers on board. Passengers told Global News they were told the flat was spotted by someone in the radio control tower and the choice was made to come back to Calgary. They said the plane circled the Calgary International Airport for at least an hour to burn fuel before landing and being met by Calgary firefighters. The plane appeared to land without incident and the passengers and crew disembarked safely. Not everyone was happy with the choice to land in Calgary though. One man questioned if the crew could land the plane in Calgary, why they couldn’t land in Honolulu or Vancouver. He also said this has ruined his trip. Most passengers commended the airline for remaining so calm and so professional. Global News tried to contact WestJet for more information, but as of 11:30 p.m. Saturday, had not received a response. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 29, 2017 Share Posted January 29, 2017 As shown in this video, a Left Main wheel was completely missing not just the tire. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JL Posted January 29, 2017 Share Posted January 29, 2017 I wonder how many non- functioning wheel assemblies can you have on a 767. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.O. Posted January 29, 2017 Share Posted January 29, 2017 It's doubtful that the "one man" was aware that an entire wheel assembly was missing, but still sometimes it's better to keep quiet than to talk to the media, especially when you're in a bad mood. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Innuendo Posted January 30, 2017 Share Posted January 30, 2017 Quote I wonder how many non- functioning wheel assemblies can you have on a 767. Certainly none for departure. Perhaps I should apologise for stating the obvious but I can tell you from hard experience that the Hawaii stations do not have a lot of spare parts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geminoid Posted January 30, 2017 Share Posted January 30, 2017 Does WestJet not have parts pooling with anyone in their low frequency airports? I suspect that the borrow of a wheel assembly would be somewhat less costly than the fuel burn and associated passenger costs with the returned flight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blues deville Posted January 30, 2017 Share Posted January 30, 2017 1 hour ago, Geminoid said: Does WestJet not have parts pooling with anyone in their low frequency airports? I suspect that the borrow of a wheel assembly would be somewhat less costly than the fuel burn and associated passenger costs with the returned flight. I don't think they wanted to land in HNL with a known wheel problem and I doubt HNL wanted any extra grooves on their runways. I'm sure westjet had enough 767 headlines last summer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 30, 2017 Share Posted January 30, 2017 Missing one wheel is one thing and another wheel could have been installed but only if the axle etc was sound. The unknown of course is what caused the wheel to depart . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Innuendo Posted January 30, 2017 Share Posted January 30, 2017 A spare wheel assembly in HNL? The thing that grounded our aircraft in HNL was a switch in the overhead panel that would not stay latched in after our contracted maintenance gent changed a bulb in it. It controlled an engine bleed. It was a no go item if it was inop, and the switch was inop. The switch was of a type that was used for several different systems on a B-767 overhead panel so you might think that a spare might be available. After a lot of back and forth with Maintenance in YUL it was established that there was not a replacement part to be had on Oahu but that even if there had been there was no way to get anyone on Christmas day who was qualified to do the job and sign it off. The flight was cancelled and our passengers luckily were transferred to a Canadian DC-10 going to YYC on the adjacent gate which fortunately had space. We ended up back at the L/O hotel where we were lucky enough to get rooms and dead headed out on Boxing day. Not what any of us really wanted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boestar Posted January 30, 2017 Share Posted January 30, 2017 This is far from the first time a 767 has lost a wheel. Many years ago the procedures for torquing the wheel were changed due to this issue. Generally this was caused by bearing failure. The Axle mate can carry the load with a flat or missing wheel but needs to be replaced as well. If the Axle was damaged as a result then the plane would need to be taken out of service to have the axle replaced. This is more serious than a flat tire. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
conehead Posted January 30, 2017 Share Posted January 30, 2017 11 hours ago, Innuendo said: A spare wheel assembly in HNL? The thing that grounded our aircraft in HNL was a switch in the overhead panel that would not stay latched in after our contracted maintenance gent changed a bulb in it. It controlled an engine bleed. It was a no go item if it was inop, and the switch was inop. The switch was of a type that was used for several different systems on a B-767 overhead panel so you might think that a spare might be available. After a lot of back and forth with Maintenance in YUL it was established that there was not a replacement part to be had on Oahu but that even if there had been there was no way to get anyone on Christmas day who was qualified to do the job and sign it off. The flight was cancelled and our passengers luckily were transferred to a Canadian DC-10 going to YYC on the adjacent gate which fortunately had space. We ended up back at the L/O hotel where we were lucky enough to get rooms and dead headed out on Boxing day. Not what any of us really wanted. Those switches are notoriously fragile. I've had them crumble in my hand when attempting to re-lamp. In YYZ, most of my colleagues carried a spare switch assembly in their toolbox. I've also seen some ingenious "repairs" of that switch, only discovered the next time it required re-lamping. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maverick Posted January 30, 2017 Share Posted January 30, 2017 2 hours ago, conehead said: Those switches are notoriously fragile. I've had them crumble in my hand when attempting to re-lamp. In YYZ, most of my colleagues carried a spare switch assembly in their toolbox. I've also seen some ingenious "repairs" of that switch, only discovered the next time it required re-lamping. I hear ya'! When we still had the -200's every relamp was a breath holding event! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Innuendo Posted January 30, 2017 Share Posted January 30, 2017 As I remember relamping was a maintenance function, and for a good reason. Gent I flew with one trip decided to relamp the switch that was part of the VOR box on the glareshield edge. He got the switch released and out OK but the lamp/bulb itself was not so easy. He got his thumbnail in the edge and the bulb shot out and went into the switch socket. In an instant the flight deck was full of smoke and this was not too long before departure. Luckily for him the AME who showed up saved his, (and mine I suppose, as I should have told him not to do it), bacon. We had opened the windows to get rid of the smoke but as he came in he sniffed the air and said, "Been changing light bulbs have we ?". He robbed an adjacent aircraft, replaced the entire box and we made it out sked with a big sigh of relief. We owed that man. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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