Q400
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical
Aircraft Aircraft Damaged; Flight Crew Landed in Emergency Condition; General Declared Emergency
Aircraft
On takeoff we experienced significant vibration in the control yolk at rotation. Normal after takeoff procedures; handed over to Departure. Discussed with Captain possibility of blown tire; the vibration was much more severe than typical nose wheel(s) being out of balance. Decided to contact Tower to ask if they could check the runway for any tire debris or other parts so we could assess possible damage. Tower confirmed tire debris on the runway and passengers seated near #3 tire saw the tire come apart; all flight deck indications; gear; engine; hydraulics normal. Contacted Company Maintenance and Dispatch agreed best course was to continue to destination; which would allow us to burn fuel (lower landing weight; less stress on #4 tire) and give us time to discuss/plan/prepare for the landing and contingencies. We descended to lower altitude to burn additional fuel for lower landing weight. We were planning a normal gear extension and had talked to Maintenance to discus this; they agreed. We declared an emergency. While preparing for landing; company informed us that operations had found composite material along with the tire pieces; indicating possible damage to the gear doors. Not knowing how the gear doors might be compromised we elected to proceed with an alternate gear extension. Once the alternate extension was completed I went back into the cabin to visually inspect the #3 and #4 tire and also the gear doors. This was accomplished via the approved method of pilot for Flight Attendant swap; secure flight deck procedures. The #3 tire was significantly damaged but #4 looked to be in good shape. Minor gear door damage; we notified [Airport] Operations that we would need a tow once on the runway. We landed without incident and came to a stop on the runway; started the APU and accomplished normal engine shutdown procedures. After an inspection by the fire crew and our Maintenance we were towed to the gate. Gear pins were inserted; nose gear lock engaged and a tow bar was used so as not to damage the forward nose gear doors. We elected to leave the flaps down for Maintenance to inspect in case any of the separated tire pieces were ejected up into the extended flaps on takeoff.
On a normal departure takeoff roll we experienced a significant vibration from the aircraft right at the point of rotation and continuing through liftoff. It slowly reduced as the tire speed decreased and we accelerated in the initial climb. Both the First Officer and I were trying to figure out what had happened as we retracted the landing gear and maintained positive control of the airplane. After the gear was retracted the vibration was non existent and all aircraft systems were normal. Both the First Officer and I agreed we had some type of tire failure but we were unsure of which tire(s). A call back to the Tower on Comm 2 confirmed some debris was found on the runway by a departing aircraft and also by an airport operations vehicle. We received a call from the flight attendants shortly after this stating that they had felt the abnormal vibration during takeoff as well. We told them we were still trying to determine what had happened and that we would call them back with a PA to the passenger as soon as we could. Next; we called Maintenance Control and told them what we thought had happened and whether or not they had any specific guidance for us. Maintenance said it was up to us what course of action to take and they transferred us to Dispatch who gave us the same response. Numerous calls the flight attendants and PAs to the passengers were made. The First Officer and I talked in great detail about what action to take. Everything on the aircraft was operating normally; we felt any extra fuel we could burn would be beneficial for our landing and the weather at our destination was clear and calm winds; we were still trying to determine which tire(s) were affected so we decided to continue to our destination. We had quite a bit of extra fuel and nearly full passenger load so we were quite heavy for an immediate return to the departure airport. Nearing the destination we declared an emergency and asked for delay vectors staying about 15 miles from the airport. A report from a passenger indicated that we had a tire blow on takeoff and that is was on the right side (main) of the aircraft; so now we at least knew what side we were dealing with. It should be noted that while we were preparing for the landing we had a call from dispatch saying that airport operations had found some pieces of what appeared to be gear door on the ground at the departure airport. Based on that information we decided to do an alternate gear extension since we did not know the condition of the gear door(s). I really wanted to know the condition of the remaining tire so at a safe altitude and airspeed we extended the landing gear. The First Officer traded places with a flight attendant; who came into the cockpit so he could check the condition of the tire. The report was that one of the tires had blown with no tread remaining and the other appeared to be in good condition. We also coordinated with station operations to have the aircraft towed to the gate as we were planning on stopping on the runway and not attempting to taxi. The landing was not eventful other than the return of the strong vibrations as soon as the main gear touched down. We brought the airplane to a stop on the runway centerline and CFR inspected the airplane for any damage along with our Maintenance people who installed the gear pins and towed us to the gate.
Q400 flight crew experiences a tire failure during takeoff and elects to continue to destination for landing. A normal landing ensues with a tow to the gate.