A320
Flight Attendant Current
Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe; Inflight Event / Encounter Loss Of Aircraft Control
Air Traffic Control Issued Advisory / Alert; Aircraft Aircraft Damaged; Flight Crew Regained Aircraft Control; General Maintenance Action
Aircraft; Incorrect / Not Installed / Unavailable Part; Human Factors
Rough landing. Plane felt as if we were off runway. Prepared mentally for evacuation. Captain announced for passengers to remain seated. Waited for emergency personnel. Deplaned passengers via air stairs and bussed to terminal. Mechanical failure. Training aided in remaining calm and keeping passengers calm.
Conditions at the airport were VFR; the runway was not contaminated; and light winds were present. The captain performed a stable approach and a very smooth touchdown on the runway. A few seconds after touchdown (around when nose wheel was lowered to the ground) the captain said; 'We lost brakes; I got nothing.' The rollout felt 'rough'; almost like centerline lights x 2. The flight attendant more clearly described it as 'driving on a gravel road'. I don't remember if this intensified or dissipated as we slowed. The aircraft started to move to the left of centerline. (Reverse thrust was being used; not sure how much but I believe the Captain was using max reverse). The captain was able to bring the airplane back on centerline. The airplane was brought to a stop as we were exiting onto the taxiway. At that time Tower advised us that they observed sparks on the right side of the aircraft; we communicated to have them roll the trucks. The captain made a PA to have all remain seated. The QRH was reviewed; we discussed and made a plan. Highlights of what we thought was important and wanted to place emphasis on while waiting to offload the pax and cargo: Deplane normally. Reassure pax the situation is completely stable. Pin the gear. Communicate with pax; every few minutes on the status. Communicate with flight attendants. Communicate with the dispatcher via acars and keep him in the loop. Keep ops on com 2 the entire timeNo fire was observed after the aircraft was brought to a stop by either the tower; or the fire trucks. The brake temps on the left side were in the low to mid 300's; and the brake temps on the right had amber x's; although the fire command did use thermal equipment to observe the temp on the right main. All passengers deplaned out 1L via air stairs and bussed to the terminal.Two flights prior to the flight mentioned above on my exterior preflight inspection I noticed that the right outboard (#4) tire was extremely low and appeared to almost be deflated. I mentioned this to the captain we both inspected the tire; he then called Maintenance. The mechanics felt it best to change both of the tires on the right side (3 & 4). It took about 45-50 minutes to change the tires. At this point; the Captain and I both were ready to go as we had been radioing ops; and they had mentioned everything is done they are having issues with the computer though. One of the mechanics came to the flight deck to reset a circuit breaker that he had pulled before changing the tires; he said 'There's a problem with the serial number on one of the tires; the computer is saying its not a new tire; but the tag that is on the tire means its good. We need to sort it out.' The number 3; and 4 tires are the ones that burst.
A Flight Attendant and the two pilots involved describe a rough landing caused by the failure of both tires on the right main gear; also causing brake failure. The two tires in question had been replaced by maintenance two flights previous to the incident flight (second landing).