Tyre burst pilot 'was distracted'

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/england/west_yorkshire/6992741.stm

Version 0 of 1.

A plane's tyres burst as it touched down at Leeds Bradford Airport because the pilot had put the parking brake on before landing, an investigation shows.

The British Midland Airbus flight from Heathrow was stranded on the runway for several hours after the incident on 24 January, but nobody was hurt.

Investigators believe the pilot was distracted because he had experienced a bad landing at Leeds Bradford before.

He unwittingly selected the brake instead of setting the landing flaps.

As a result all four main landing gear tyres burst on landing, said the Air Accidents Investigation Branch report.

Procedures changed

It concluded: "On approach to Leeds Bradford Airport (LBA), the commander inadvertently selected the parking brake to 'on' instead of the flaps to 'full'.

"As a result of a previous landing by the commander at LBA, in difficult weather conditions, his attention was focused upon the numerous Air Traffic Control wind advisory messages transmitted during the approach.

"The application of the parking brake was not detected prior to touchdown. All four main landing gear tyres deflated on landing."

The aircraft manufacturer said there had been five similar events worldwide and the operator said it had now updated its pre-landing checks.