EMB ERJ 145 ER/LR
Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical
Flight Crew Landed in Emergency Condition; Flight Crew Returned To Departure Airport; General Maintenance Action; General Declared Emergency
Aircraft
Upon rotation; [we heard a] massive loud vibration that continued for awhile. Captain looks at me and says; 'That was probably a blown tire. We kept the gear down but completed after takeoff checklist and contacted Departure. Departure greeted us with a new altitude clearance and vector to the west. Captain informed them of the blown tire and requested vectors for flyby and return. We ran the QRH for blown tire; changed destination; sent ACARS message to Dispatch. On the flyby; Tower informed us the right inboard main was the blown tire. We informed them we would like to burn some fuel to lighten up. Further information received from ground operations inspecting the runway; led us to believe that we may have blown both right mains as well as had a brake lockup. We decided to call Maintenance with this information to see if they could offer any further guidance but were unable to reach them at 4;000 MSL. Dispatch informed us that SELCAL frequency was unmonitored so we requested a climb to contact Maintenance Control. Captain and I both agreed we wanted light; slow; and small amount of fuel for landing and agreed upon 1;000 LBS. After conversing with Maintenance; Tower; and ARF personnel; we commenced the final approach. Captain and I both agreed he should make the landing. Landing was executed perfectly and smoothly. Upon stopping the aircraft; we made sure the ARF personnel were at the plane; and evacuated with them helping the passengers off the aircraft. We; the crew; were the last off the plane. There was only one minor injury; that we only found out about later from the Flight Attendant. One lady slightly twisted her ankle while leaving the aircraft.
EMB145 First Officer describes a blown tire event at rotation and the subsequent return to their departure airport.