British Airways plane's square tyre baffles experts
A British Airways plane has left experts scratching their heads - after it landed at Heathrow with a strange square tyre.
The flight from Hong Kong landed safely despite crew receiving a tyre pressure indication after takeoff.
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A picture of the tyre first appeared at The Aviation Herald. The website said: "A British Airways Airbus A380-800, performing flight BA-32 from Hong Kong (China) to London Heathrow,EN (UK), was climbing out of Hong Kong close to reaching the top of climb when the crew received a tyre pressure indication.
"The crew decided to continue the flight to London and requested a tow tug to be available for landing in case the aircraft would not be able to taxi on its own. The aircraft landed safely on Heathrow's runway 09L and taxied to the gate.
"The aft right outboard body tyre caused a lot of head scratching trying to explain how the stunning square shape of the damaged tyre came together."
Royal Aeronautical Society aviation safety expert Kumar Mysore told the Daily Mail: "It is a bit mysterious. It's a safe aircraft, but it's an interesting phenomenon."
He said the reason for the square shape was to do with the way the weight of the A380 is distributed onto the wheels.
"The effect of the weight on the deflated tyre is the same as when you squeeze a rubber ring toy with different intensity, it can turn into a different shape," he explained.
"In an A380, for this particular situation, it happens to be squarish. In a 747, for instance, the load of the aircraft does not give rise to this particular shape."
According to Stuff.co.nz, another Civil Aviation Authority spokesman said: "It is a curious one. Not seen anything like it before."
Speaking to the Evening Standard, a British Airways spokeswoman said the plane landed "normally" with one of its 18 tyres deflated, adding: "The A380, in common with other large commercial aircraft, is designed to be perfectly safe when landing with a deflated tyre."
