EMB ERJ 135 ER/LR
Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe
Aircraft Aircraft Damaged; Flight Crew Landed in Emergency Condition; General Declared Emergency; General Maintenance Action
Aircraft
We took off with what seemed to be a normal takeoff. Any abnormal feeling on the takeoff could be justified by the gusty wind conditions at the field. We were about 45 minutes into our flight when ATC told us that Tower had noticed a large piece of rubber was left on the runway around the point at which we rotated the aircraft. We asked him to see if he could get more information for us as we did not feel anything abnormal with our landing gear or tires. As we were still inflight trying to figure out what kind of problem we might have ATC confirmed it was a ten inch long piece of rubber with the lettering of our tire. We knew we had lost some part of a tire but which one and how much. I called back to the Flight Attendant to make her aware of the situation and asked if she could see any aircraft damage on either wing. She came back and told me that there did not seem to be any aircraft damage. We had three jumpseating pilots in the back and she made them aware of the situation and asked if they had noticed anything odd during the takeoff. All three and the Flight Attendant said something did seem different about it. After speaking with ATC and the Flight Attendant I called our Dispatcher to ask if they could confirm with our Maintenance if it was part of our tire that had come off on the runway. They said they would get back to me and never did. I called them again about 30-40 minutes before landing. That is when the Dispatcher told me that we need to declare an emergency and to proceed to our destination; which we did. I called back to the Flight Attendant to let her know we have declared an emergency and to prepare the cabin. We went through the NTSB procedure. I told her because we could possibly have issues with our landing gear that we should have the passengers brace as precaution and I would call the brace command. I was not expecting an evacuation either but it could be possible. As we got closer we advised ATC that we would like Tower to confirm that we have four main tires. To do this we made a low approach over the runway to have the Tower and emergency vehicles take a look at the landing gear. After making the low approach they confirmed we had all four of our mains. We then proceeded on the go-around and proceeded to make an approach to land. As we came back around I asked the First officer if he felt confident landing the aircraft and without hesitation said yes. I myself felt confident with him flying since he had been flying this whole time while I was coordinating everything. After discussing the situation with him we both felt we were not in jeopardy of any landing gear failure or evacuation and that the plane would touchdown normally; since we did not get any abnormal indication from the flight deck. As we approached the runway I keyed the PA and said; 'This is the Captain Brace; Brace!' for the last 500 FT we could hear the Flight Attendant shouting her brace commands. We approached the runway and touched down normally and brought the aircraft to a stop on the runway. The fire and rescue squad checked out our tires and told us that we had lost all tread on the right inboard tire and appeared to still be inflated. We told them we would proceed to the gate under our own power and they followed us back as precaution. After we came to a stop at the gate I called Dispatch and Maintenance to make them aware of the situation and we were safe at the gate.
[Report narrative contained no additional information]
EMB135 flight crew experiences the loss of a main wheel tire tread during takeoff; which they are informed of after reaching cruise altitude. An emergency is declared for landing at the destination airport which is normal in all respects. Post flight reveals that the right inboard tire has shed its tread causing damage to the flaps and the fuselage under the tail.