EgyptAir plane lands safely in Jeddah despite tyre blowout

Airline evacuated and no passengers injured

EgyptAir planes in Cairo. One of the airline's Boeing models was involved in a frightening incident in Jeddah on Sunday. Reuters

An EgyptAir Boeing 738 landed at King Abdulaziz International Airport, Jeddah on Sunday after one of its tyres exploded on landing.

All passengers disembarked safely from flight MS643 and no one was injured, EgyptAir said in a statement.

The airline did not elaborate on what caused the problem and said an examination and maintenance of the plane were under way.

Aircraft rarely suffer tyre blowouts on landing, despite most commercial planes travelling at up to 250kph when hitting the runway.

The 738 – a stretched version of the Boeing 737 – weighs about 40,000kg but its tyres are designed to withstand massive pressure changes and high temperatures from the intense friction of braking on landing.

According to Air Canada, commercial plane tyres are designed to last for 300-450 landings before being changed.

Normal procedure for pilots in the event of a blowout is to continue the landing as normal, although air association Cabin Safety says such incidents can make an aircraft veer to one side as it decelerates.

The organisation, run by aviation consultant Donald Wecklein, says “most occurrences of blown tyres will not develop into an emergency situation that would require an evacuation of the aircraft".

The blowout in Jeddah was the second reported aircraft emergency on Sunday, as an Air France KLM SA passenger plane was forced to turn back to Osaka, Japan, when its airspeed indicators and weather radar malfunctioned.

The equipment failure occurred about 35 minutes into the flight over the Pacific, the Kyodo news agency reported.