An American Airlines Boeing 737 was forced to abort its takeoff from New York JFK yesterday after multiple tires burst during its departure. The Phoenix-bound aircraft managed to come to a safe stop on the runway following the rejected takeoff. Let's take a closer look at how exactly this incident unfolded, and what followed it.
The flight in question
American Airlines flight AA2829 is a daily scheduled service that originates at the Fort Worth-based US legacy carrier and oneworld founding member's New York John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) hub. According to data from tracking website FlightRadar24.com, it has a scheduled departure time of 12:45 every day.
The flight's destination is Arizona's Phoenix Sky Harbor International (PHX), another American Airlines hub. With a planned duration of five hours and 52 minutes, and accounting for the time difference, its arrival in Phoenix is scheduled to occur at 16:37 local time. However, the time spent airborne is typically around five hours.
A quick look on AA's website shows that it operates several flights a day from JFK to Phoenix. The carrier faces direct competition from Delta and JetBlue. This has led to the route becoming one of the airport's busiest. Indeed, BTS data ranks Phoenix as having the ninth-highest demand for any JFK domestic route last year.
What happened?
While New York and Phoenix are thousands of kilometers away, yesterday's iteration of American Airlines flight AA2829 unfortunately didn't get anywhere near that far. This is because, according to The Aviation Herald, the Boeing 737 operating the flight suffered multiple burst left tires while attempting to depart from New York.
With 142 passengers and six crew members onboard, the jet is reported to have been traveling at a speed of around 167 km/h (90 knots) when takeoff had to be aborted. The aircraft subsequently came to a stop around 1,700 meters along New York JFK's 4,423-meter-long runway 31L. No one onboard was injured.
As seen in the tweet above, the burst tires were torn to shreds, with the plane's wheel frames making contact with the ground as a result. After being towed from the runway, passengers were able to disembark from the jet, and return to the terminal by bus. An American Airlines spokesperson provided the following statement:
"Shortly after 1 p.m. ET yesterday, American Airlines flight 2829 halted takeoff from John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) due to an issue with the left main landing gear. The aircraft stopped safely on the runway and customers were transferred to the terminal via bus, where they were transferred to another aircraft that re-departed for Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX) at 5:55 p.m. ET. We thank our crew for their professionalism and our customers for their patience."
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The aircraft involved
The plane that suffered this spectacular blowout on takeoff was a Boeing 737-800 registered as N334PP. According to data from ch-aviation.com, it is 4.55 years old, having entered service with American in August 2017. At the time of writing, it remains on the ground in New York the day after the incident.
As for the passengers of flight AA2829, they eventually made it to Phoenix by way of a replacement aircraft. Registred as N339PL, this Boeing 737-800 is slightly older, at 4.69 years. It departed JFK at 18:07, and landed in Phoenix at 21:09 local time. This represented a total delay of around four-and-a-half hours.
What do you make of this incident? Have you ever experienced an aborted departure for a similar reason? Let us know your thoughts and experiences in the comments.