St. John’s: A PAL Airlines plane lost a wheel from its landing gear while landing in Wabush, Labrador. The dramatic moment was captured on video by CBC producer Lee Pitts, who was a passenger on board. The footage clearly shows the aircraft’s wheel detaching and rolling ahead the instant the plane touched down on the runway. “My first thought was that I’m glad I captured this on video, because otherwise no one would believe it,” Lee Pitts said. Despite the scary incident, a major disaster was averted as the plane landed safely, and all passengers disembarked without injuries.
However, Pitts revealed that a technical snag had been noticed even before the landing. During takeoff from Goose Bay, a child on board had pointed out smoke rising from the wheel. Although initially dismissed as water splashing from puddles on the runway, it later became clear that the smoke might have been caused by an overheating wheel bearing or brake pad. Having noticed the loose wheel shortly after takeoff, Pitts recorded the events leading all the way to the landing at Wabush.
Immediately after the passengers disembarked, a maintenance team arrived to inspect the aircraft but did not provide detailed information regarding the landing gear failure. PAL Airlines spokesperson Joseph Galimberti later announced that an alternative aircraft was arranged for the passengers to continue their journey.
He clarified that a wheel bearing failure during landing caused the incident and stated that an investigation is underway in cooperation with Transport Canada.
