MD-83
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe
Aircraft Aircraft Damaged; General Maintenance Action
Aircraft; Procedure
During taxi in Maintenance reported tire damage to right outboard main gear tire. Upon inspection noted tire delamination; wing; flap; and possible engine damage. Tire tread appeared to separate on takeoff; but couldn't be verified. Damage included several dents from trailing edge of flaps to forward of wheel well. Approximate 2.5 inches hole in flap noted. Two scuff marks down the outboard side of right engine. Three scuff marks on inside of engine and forward of number 1 stage fan blades with 7 bent blades noted by Maintenance. Flight operated normal and no abnormal engine or gear indication noted. During preflight walk around no damage was noted or reported by Maintenance.
We flew this aircraft on one previous leg that morning and had no problems. Departed normally with nothing unusual noted on taxi or takeoff. On gate arrival ground personnel notified me of a problem with tire number 4. As we were deplaning I went out to inspect the tire and found that about 45% of the outboard portion of the number 4 tire tread cap was missing. The tire appeared to be inflated and the number 3 tire showed no observable damage. The missing tread cap had been thrown off with some force and had caused apparent damage to areas abeam of and aft of the number 4 tire. There was no leakage of any fluid and the brake and tire seemed to be of normal post landing temperature.I informed the station we would not be boarding. I returned to the cockpit and called Ground to advise of possible debris on runway and called my Dispatcher to report the damage and obtain a phone number for Tower at the departure airport. With those items done; I returned to the right main gear area and observed what appeared to be damage to the wing; flaps; and Number 2 Engine. We dropped the gear door and could find nothing amiss in the wheel well. We configured the flaps to 6 and 40 in an attempt to determine when the tire and failed and found damage at flaps 6 with no additional damage to areas that were exposed at flaps 40. Airport personnel came by vehicle to the aircraft and reported no debris found on the runway or taxiways. It is for these reasons I believe that the problem occurred on takeoff. I called Mr. X at the departure airport Tower to enquire if they had found anything and he had nothing to report at the time. I made the appropriate entries in the aircraft logbook.I spoke with my cabin crew and they had not heard anything unusual. We and they smelled no unusual odors. The jet flew normally. We were fortunate that the failure mode did not involve the inboard part of the tread cap. We were fortunate the failure did not damage the wheel well or damage the engine more than it did. If the tread cap had hit the engine 3 more inches to the left this would be a much different report. The aircraft had a CDL item on both our legs; 57-5 Flap hinge fairing; that could have contributed to the problem by requiring a higher takeoff speed putting more stress on the tire and more energy in the rubber departing the damaged tire. Consider adding a flaps 11 requirement with CDL items that require an increase in takeoff speeds. Factor in the risk of tire failure in the policy decision to use lower flap settings on takeoff and landing.Possible hazard if the tire had let go when people were standing nearby; since it had just survived a landing that did not occur to me till later. Perhaps it would have been wise to call the fire department hot brake unit or have maintenance deflate the damaged tire immediately; lesson learned. The gear up call should be preceded by a scan of the hydraulic system for abnormal indications to discern if a tire failure has occurred. If a tire failure does not show up in the engine performance it would most likely show up in the hydraulics next. A belly camera would have helpful to allow us to see the damaged tire.
MD83 flight crew is informed by Ground Personnel that the outboard tire on the right side is missing some tread after gate arrival. Damage to the right engine and flap is noted and it is suspected the damage occurred during takeoff; but was not detected by the crew.