By Anita Dangazele
A FlySaFair flight headed to Cape Town from OR Tambo international airport was grounded safely after it lost a wheel during the take-off on Sunday.
Flight FA212 took off at 11:32 on Sunday morning as scheduled but quickly had to make a U-turn after ground staff noticed that one of the aircraft’s wheels was damaged.
FlySaFair chief marketing officer Kirby Gordon confirmed that a decision was taken to return the plane to Johannesburg.
“After take-off, ground staff at OR Tambo reported witnessing what appeared to be damage to one of the aircraft’s back wheels. The crew was alerted,” he said.
Before landing, the plane had to make a low pass over the OR Tambo international airport to allow technical teams to visually inspect the landing gear.
“The aircraft passed overhead at approximately 1:20[pm] and observers confirmed that one of the four rear wheels had come adrift during the take-off,” Gordon said.
He said the affected wheel was one of two attached to the left rear landing strut.
The flight landed safely at 2:06pm and no injuries were reported.
Gordon said the cause of the tyre damage would be investigated.
Pictured above: The damaged wheel of the FlySaFair Boeing plane.
Image source: Supplied