Wheel drops off departing ATR 42 freighter

Investigators are examining the reasons for a wheel detachment from an ATR 42-300 freighter as it departed from Chittagong in Bangladesh.

The aircraft involved was operated by local carrier Nxt Air under the Hello Air brand.

It was conducting a domestic ferry flight from Chittagong’s Shah Amanat International Airport to Cox’s Bazar Airport, also in Bangladesh, on June 5.

The turboprop took off from runway 23 but, according to French investigation authority BEA – which cites its Bangladeshi counterpart – the outboard left-hand wheel detached from the axle.

It was later discovered near the end of the opposite-direction runway 05.

Chittagong’s tower informed the crew and the aircraft continued to its destination, where the ATR carried out a couple of low passes for visual inspection before landing safely.

According to Cirium data, the airframe (S2-AHI) is almost 30 years old, having been delivered originally to Croatia Airlines as a passenger aircraft in 1993.

David Kaminski-Morrow www.aircargonews.net