Horrific Maintenance Accident

[GeeBee]

Delta tire shop had an accident that killed two, maimed another. The scene had to be horrific. I am told one mechanic had his head blown off and had to be identified by his tattoos. The other was sliced clean in half at the torso. A third lost both his legs is expected to survive.

My sources said, typically tires are deflated before removal by cutting the valve stems off, since they are replaced anyway. They then let them sit 24 hours before work to insure full and complete deflation. In this case, for reasons not yet determined, the tire was fully inflated as they started to separate the wheel halves. After removing a few thru bolts, the rest of the bolts "ribboned" off in consecutive order like a machine gun, like a 30mm gun because those bolts are big, then the wheel halves blew apart. 

Reminder that seemly routine maintenance can go terribly wrong.

https://www.avweb.com/aviation-news/tire-explodes-in-delta-air-lines-atlanta-maintenance-shop-two-dead/?MailingID=FLY240828016&utm_campaign=avwebflash&utm_medium=newsletter&oly_enc_id=5912C9519189D2Y

 

[RoundTwo]

4 hours ago, GeeBee said:

Delta tire shop had an accident that killed two, maimed another. The scene had to be horrific. I am told one mechanic had his head blown off and had to be identified by his tattoos. The other was sliced clean in half at the torso. A third lost both his legs is expected to survive.

My sources said, typically tires are deflated before removal by cutting the valve stems off, since they are replaced anyway. They then let them sit 24 hours before work to insure full and complete deflation. In this case, for reasons not yet determined, the tire was fully inflated as they started to separate the wheel halves. After removing a few thru bolts, the rest of the bolts "ribboned" off in consecutive order like a machine gun, like a 30mm gun because those bolts are big, then the wheel halves blew apart. 

Reminder that seemly routine maintenance can go terribly wrong.

https://www.avweb.com/aviation-news/tire-explodes-in-delta-air-lines-atlanta-maintenance-shop-two-dead/?MailingID=FLY240828016&utm_campaign=avwebflash&utm_medium=newsletter&oly_enc_id=5912C9519189D2Y

 

Of course, being here in Metro Atlanta, this was all over the news, but without any details. This is the first I’ve seen explaining why it happened. I can’t imagine how horrible that must have been.

[BlueSky247]

Ugh. That’s awful.

[Echo]

Split rim wheels used to be commonplace in agriculture and commercial vehicles . Airing after replacing tires is a catastrophic exposure potential. Cages reduce exposure, but as they were replaced technicians were unaware and injuries, often fatal, occured.  Split rims are not to be trifled with when working with them. 

[A64Pilot]

We had a Blackhawk mechanic take a tailwheel apart with it inflated, she was hurt but not real bad.

I always thought she must have been stupid because those last few bolts had to be tough to remove with I think 150 PSI pushing on them, I don’t know how many square inches a Black hawk tailwheel half is but whatever it is, multiply it by 150 to get the force in pounds, big number whatever it is.

Commercial aircraft tires and wheels are huge of course and I think they carry about 200 PSI?

Truck etc split rings are different, there it’s a literal ring that is pried off of the wheel, I don’t think it’s possible to pry one off of an inflated tire.

Their danger comes from inflation blowing one that wasn’t seated off. Old Army trucks had them, when they changed a tire in the motor pool the tire had to go in a cage and everyone had to leave the building, it was inflated from outside. Never heard of one blowing off, but they had everyone afraid of them

Edited September 9, 2024 by A64Pilot

[A64Pilot]

Now that I think about it, are Commercial valve stems rubber? How could they be cut off if not? I’m pretty sure the ones we had on the helicopter were metal. We had tubeless tires so the valve stem was mounted into the wheel half and sealed with O-rings, had a nut on the outside 

Edited September 9, 2024 by A64Pilot

[Fly Boomer]

12 minutes ago, A64Pilot said:

Their danger comes from inflation blowing one that wasn’t seated off. Old Army trucks had them, when they changed a tire in the motor pool the tire had to go in a cage and everyone had to leave the building, it was inflated from outside. Never heard of one blowing off, but they had everyone afraid of them

Saw the imprint of a truck tire on the ceiling of a high bay where a tire had been inflated ring-side down.  Ceiling was probably 20-25 feet.  Shop didn't have a cage.  I'll bet everyone who was there that day suddenly got religion regarding inflating those split-ring wheels.

[MB65E]

Yeah, cutting the valve stem seems strange. This is what my good friend/mentor, Lynn Hadler,  showed me. 
I still use them!

Valve core removal tool PN-968RB

-Matt

Edited September 9, 2024 by MB65E

[A64Pilot]

1 hour ago, MB65E said:

Yeah, cutting the valve stem seems strange. This is what my good friend/mentor, Lynn Hadler,  showed me. 
I still use them!

PN-968RB

-Matt

Took me a minute to figure out what that was, I was trying to figure out how it could be a valve stem. I just remove the valve stem core, but you know with GA sized wheels we are more likely to damage the wheel than ourselves.

‘Not saying don’t be concerned, just I think those big Commercial wheels at the pressures they run likely contain 1000 times the energy.

[MB65E]

Ahh, should have been more clear. It captures the valve stem, safely locks down, then the inner stem inserts into the valve stem and spins the core out. All the air can then deflate while having the core safely caged. 
 

-Matt