Had a flat tire on rollout yesterday and mistakenly called it a "blowout" to ATC. Was later told to be careful on what verbiage to use over ATC because there is a difference with how the FAA/NTSB is supposed to be involved. Can anyone provide a legal explanation here between the two?
Is it that a flat tire is simply a loss of air, and a blowout is the tire actually failing from structural reasons?

Sounds like a MX thing. You probably couldn't tell from the cockpit anyway, unless you heard a loud bang.

If you land on a flat tire, it will probably look like a blowout by the time you roll out.

Its a MX and Airport Ops thing. A blowout implies shrapnel, which requires much more detailed inspections of the airport surfaces and the aircraft. Remember the Concorde accident?

Ah, okay that makes sense. Yeah, concord is what came to my mind!

Thanks.

So I stayed in a Holiday Inn last night.
Mr ATC how are you supposed to tell the difference from the cockpit upon landing?
Any event should be treated like a blowout until proven otherwise.
Imagine the plane behind you heading for the weeds because of FOD?
Great example again of Mr (or Mrs) ATC knowing best....again.

The best way to avoid liability is to be as unspecific as possible on the recorded lines. "Maintenance issue, equipment malfunction, etc." Out of an overabundance of caution I would prefer not to move the aircraft until it is inspected.

It of course stinks that this level of caution is necessary and ambulance chasers ruin everything they get near but it is something all professional pilots must consider, especially before they arrive at their 'destination' employer.

It is disturbing if the tower controller's main objective was to avoid needing to ask ops for a runway inspection.

I think we've all observed, at one time or another, controller behavior driven by "operational convenience".

The two basic causes of aircraft tire blowouts are hot brakes and FOD like in the Concorde accident. Tires can also blow from under inflation heat buildup while taxiing. Some aircraft actually have a taxi distance limit after which you have to chock the wheels and let the tires cool off. This limit would normally only be reached if several runway changes occurred while taxiing.

The USAF lost a C-5 during an air refueling training mission when a tire blew quite a while after takeoff, and started a fire in the cargo compartment. It was determined that one of the brakes had been in full antiskid braking mode since initial taxi and thru takeoff. With 24 braked wheels and fairly light weight it is not really surprising that nobody noticed. Brake temp gauges were installed after this accident.

Joe

A lot of safety items are inconvenient, yet we do not sweep them under the rug. Wisdom plus best knowledge known is what one uses.

Great advice for sure