B737-700
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP); Flight Crew Multiengine; Flight Crew Instrument
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 200
Troubleshooting
Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe
Aircraft Aircraft Damaged
Aircraft
During takeoff roll; I noticed a shimmy which seemed to be from the nose strut. While at cruise the Captain noticed a rapidly decreasing Hydraulic A quantity; followed by Master Caution for low pressure from the HYD A engine driven pump. We ran the QRH Checklist; manual gear extension and landing in ZZZ. While clearing the runway we noticed another vibration and the Captain brought the aircraft to a stop. It was determined we had blown a tire on takeoff on the right main gear; which damaged the hydraulics. We then blew the adjacent tire on the right main gear while clearing the runway. Captain stopped the aircraft and passengers and crew were deplaned with air stairs.
On our pre-dawn takeoff; we noted a strong nose wheel shimmy; but no other abnormality. At cruise; we noticed Hydraulic System A quantity decreasing. Conferred with Dispatch and decided to continue to ZZZ; as we had good [Weight and Balance System] landing data in the event of loss of System A. System A quantity gradually decreased to zero nearing ZZZ and we ran the QRH Loss of System A. We asked for and received traffic priority; but did not declare an emergency. We landed XXC and noticed some roughness; but I wasn't sure if it was nose shimmy or main gear. I remember being concerned about nose gear tires; partly because of the vibration on takeoff; and probably partly because when we extended the gear manually; as the nose gear takes longer to extend; the FO (First Officer) was initially concerned it would not come down. I reassured him it just takes a little longer; and it did lock down fine; but I think this skewed my expectations a little to expect a nose gear problem. As we turned off onto Taxiway B; we felt a right tire blow and thumping. We stopped and contacted ATC; Flight Attendants; made a Passenger PA; and then contacted ZZZ Station; Dispatch; Maintenance Control; and the Chief Pilot in the Operations Center. Air stairs were brought to the aircraft; and Passengers and Flight Attendants were bused to the terminal. Both right main tires were deflated and hydraulic lines on the right main gear strut were damaged. I was later informed that a chunk of tire was found on the ZZZ2 runway. I suspect that one of the tires was damaged on takeoff and that tire damaged the hydraulic line. We didn't know due to the nose shimmy; or perhaps what we perceived as a nose shimmy was actually a damaged right main tire. Although the vibration did not stop immediately upon gear retraction; and I would have expected the vibration to stop immediately if it had been the main; since main gear brakes are applied upon gear retraction. It's possible that if only one tire was inflated on landing the brake energy was excessive. The [Weight and Balance System] for loss of System A required us to use auto-brakes 3 in ZZZ; compounding the tire problem.In hindsight; it would probably have been better to divert to ZZZ1 which has longer runways allowing less brake usage since we didn't know what caused the hydraulic failure. Declaring an emergency would have reduced emergency response time had we needed them. If both right main tires had been flat right at touchdown the event could have been more serious. It would possibly have been useful for Tower to examine the landing gear with binoculars prior to landing; so that I might have known a tire was damaged and could land on a longer runway and also try to minimize the impact on that side. If tire pressure readings had been available in the cockpit; I would have known about the tire problem prior to landing. Most cars now have this feature; it seems archaic not to have it in an airliner. Thank you all for your work to make flying safer.
B737 Pilot reported that a tire on the right main gear was blown during the takeoff roll and the adjacent tire was blown during landing resulting in damage to the hydraulic system.