Late 1990's - mid/late 2000's there was an issue with 757 nose wheels falling off. Buddy was one of them in the late 1990's. Turning into the gate at LAX and another pilot on ramp frequency said "757 turning into gate xx you're missing a nose wheel." Mid week flight (this becomes important).
Investigation. He gets interviewed. "You end up second guessing yourself. Did you actually look at the wheel? Did you somehow miss it?!?!?" FDR had the exact location they put the gear down. From there's it's a simple college physics problem - "where would the wheel land?" Police investigators start canvassing the area. No reports of damage. No one saw anything. 6 miles east of LAX and NO ONE saw anything?? Talking to people at a church and they said they'd heard a large crash around the time and went outside to help... but there wasn't a crash scene at the road. Oh well...they go back inside. Police start investigating and find the find the tire sitting in a large construction trash container. Go back to the east (opposite the direction of fligh) and they find a impact spot in the middle of the parking lot. One bounce...."he scores!" Buddy - "if that had happened on a Sunday we might have killed people."
05-01-2024
AIRLINE
