Canadian regional carrier PAL Airlines has withdrawn a De Havilland Dash 8-400 from service after the plane had lost a wheel for the second time in less than three weeks.
The Lost Wheel
On Nov. 12., the PAL Airlines Canadian regional flight 411 service from Goose Bay (YYR), Labrador to Deer Lake (YDF), Newfoundland made a swift diversion, landing in St. John’s (YYT) after a wheel had fallen off the aircraft while departing- marking this incident as the second time in less than three weeks that this same aircraft had lost a wheel during service.
The previous event occurred on Oct. 30. during the regional flight PB901 from St. John’s (YYT) to Wabush (YWK), where the wheel of the Dash 8-400 was seen my passengers to completely detach from the aircraft during the landing in said destination. Emergency vehicles attended the plane instants after it touched down.
As the aircraft has been pulled from service, PAL is reportedly working with De Havilland Aircraft of Canada and Transport Canada to figure out the root cause of the problem- extending their wheel assembly inspections to rest of its Dash 8-400 fleet.
Joseph Galimberti, PAL’s senior vice-president of public affairs, said in a statement:
“Out of an abundance of caution and in the interest of safety, PAL Airlines has initiated a process to complete wheel assembly inspections on the remainder of its Dash 8-400 aircraft to ensure the integrity of our fleet.”
No passengers or crew members where harmed on either occasion, and PAL Airlines confirms that all those affected by the diversion have been rescheduled to resume their journeys.
Precautions and Context
It is very rare of part of an aircraft to fall apart, the only common instance possibly being internal structures such as faulty seatbelts or seatback tables. Upon my own research there have been no recent reports or occurrences of aircraft parts falling off during take-off, flight or after landing.
This incident happening twice on the same aircraft can hardly be called a one-off mistake, especially after documented inspections had taken place after the first accident. Passengers can be assured, however, that this problem has only occurred on a singular aircraft and not, as far as we are aware, across an entire fleet.
Have you ever experienced anything similar to this? Let us know in the comments!
