8 Tires on 747 Blow on S.F. Landing
A United Airlines 747 jumbo jet with 307 people on board lost all eight tires on the right side of the aircraft to blow-outs Saturday as the plane landed at San Francisco International airport on a flight from Osaka, Japan.
No one was injured and the cause of the blow-outs was under investigation by United maintenance workers, United spokeswoman Deborah Jones said.
“There were no alerts or no warnings or anything” as Flight 810 came in for its landing, said Jones. “I think it came as quite a surprise to everyone involved.”
The incident closed the runway, causing delays at the airport, where another runway is closed for repairs.
The United pilots managed to bring the plane to a stop without skidding, Jones said, but the aircraft was unable to move from the runway onto the taxiway.
It took 90 minutes after the 10:30 a.m. incident for buses to shuttle the 289 passengers, 15 inflight crew members and three cockpit crew from the disabled aircraft to the terminal.
The plane then was towed to a maintenance center to determine the cause of the tire failure.
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