Runway Safety Is a Priority

Airports need to be conveniently located. Airports should offer flights to destinations that travelers want. Airports should have adequate and accessible parking. But most of all, airports and air travel need to be safe.

That’s why it is so important for federal and local authorities to determine the causes of the recent tire blowouts on commercial jets landing at John Wayne Airport.

On Nov. 24, a Delta Air Lines MD-90 passenger jet blew tires while landing at John Wayne. The blowout halted flights for two hours while the plane was removed and the airport’s lone runway cleared of debris.

Fortunately, there were no injuries, but this wasn’t the first such mishap involving blown tires upon landing. For Delta MD-90 jets, it was the ninth incident in the last four years. Reportedly there have been several others, involving other airlines and types of aircraft.

The potential safety hazards are obvious. Blowouts could cause a pilot to lose control of the plane, or, as pilots note, if a tire is weakened on landing it could blow on takeoff and send debris into the engine or other parts of the plane.

Orange County has one of the shortest runways of major commercial airports in the state. None of the other airports have reported as many blown tires, which raises concern about what could be causing the unusually high number at John Wayne. It could be something structural, the way pilots have to use the planes’ brakes landing on a short runway, or just coincidence.

Whatever the reason, airport officials were wise to ask the Federal Aviation Administration to investigate. The FAA should waste no time doing so.