Transportation Safety Board not investigating after PAL Airlines lost wheel twice in 2 weeks
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada says it's still gathering information regarding a plane that lost two different wheels in separate incidents in the past two weeks.
Board says it's 'assessing' following the second incident to same plane
Abby Cole · CBC News
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The Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) says it's still gathering information regarding a plane that lost two different wheels in separate incidents in the past two weeks.
On Thursday, PAL flight 411 lost a wheel shortly after taking off from Happy Valley-Goose Bay. It was headed to Deer Lake, but instead diverted to the St. John’s International Airport for an emergency landing. It landed safely around 4:10 p.m. NT.
On Oct. 30, the same plane had a wheel fall off upon landing in Wabush.
Media relations co-ordinator Hugo Fontaine said the board is aware of the incidents but said it has not deployed investigators.
WATCH | PAL aircraft loses wheel upon landing in Wabush on Oct. 30:
PAL Airlines flight to Labrador loses a wheel on landing Friday morning
October 30|
Duration
1:05
A wheel comes off seconds after PAL flight PB901, from St. John’s to Wabush, touches down on the tarmac on Oct. 30. This video was captured by a CBC employee on the flight.Fontaine said the Oct. 30 incident was classified as a Class 5 occurrence — which according to the TSB occurrence classification policy is the second least severe class, and has “little likelihood of identifying new safety lessons that will advance transportation safety.”
Class 5 occurrences require the board to gather data within 60 days, and do not result in an investigation report.
“Data on Class 5 occurrences are recorded in suitable scope for possible future safety analysis, statistical reporting, or archival purposes,” wrote Fontaine.
As for the second wheel-loss incident, Fontaine said TSB is collecting information and assessing the situation, and their investigators are in contact with the airline — but Microsoft’s global outage has slowed the process.
In a follow-up email to CBC, Fontaine said it's too early to say whether or not the second incident will be investigated.
Transport Canada communications advisor Flavio Nienow said part of the department's mandate is to follow up on all incidents and safety is a top priority.
"Transport Canada is working directly with the operator and will not hesitate to take any appropriate action should safety or regulatory deficiencies be identified under the Canadian Aviation Regulations," Nienow wrote in a statement to CBC News Friday afternoon.
Incidents are 'disturbing,' says aviation expert
A McGill University aviation management expert said PAL Airlines will need to seriously evaluate its maintenance practices.
John Gradek said it's “disturbing” and unusual for an aircraft to lose a wheel twice in two weeks.
“I’m not saying it's, you know, dangerous at this point in time because, you know, we have emergency procedures in place, but to have it occur twice on the same aircraft within a couple of weeks is not something that you normally would see,” he told CBC Radio's The St. John’s Morning Show.
While it is unknown exactly how it happened, Gradek said the fact it happened twice lends itself to possible issues with the plane’s repair and maintenance processes.
John Gradek, Faculty Lecturer in Aviation Management and Supply Chain Management at McGill University, says the fact it happened twice lends itself to possible issues with the plane’s repair and maintenance processes. (Jacques Poitras/CBC)
Gradek said there are a number of possible reasons why an airplane may lose a wheel, including it may have not been properly attached or quality checked before take off.
Because these processes are usually recorded, he said it shouldn’t be difficult to find out what happened.
A PAL Airlines flight lost a wheel less than 2 weeks ago. It's happened again — to the same plane
WATCH: PAL Airlines flight loses wheel in Wabush after landing
“The question that we have to ask ourselves as we go through it, as we do any incident, is why it happened and to make sure that we don't have a repeat of the situation again,” he said.
After the incident on Thursday, PAL airlines said it was removing the Dash 8-400 aircraft from service and is completing another inspection. It is also doing complete wheel assembly inspections on the remainder of its Dash 8-400 fleet.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Abby Cole is a journalist with CBC News in St. John's. She can be reached at abby.cole@cbc.ca.
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