Yesterday, evening, a Spicejet plane, dropped one of its tires while taking off from Bengaluru, with 211 people inside it, but still managed to land safely.

After observing the debris of a tyre, the maintenance personnel at the Bengaluru runway immediately informed air traffic control (ATC). Since SpiceJet SG 517 was the last aircraft to take off before the tyre was found, the ATC checked on this with the airline staff.

After the officials confirmed that, the tyre belonged to the SpiceJet aircraft, the ATC informed it to the pilot, who then made a precautionary landing in Kolkatta, the flight's destination.

Fortunately, the tyre that fell off or burst (which is yet to be revealed through probe) was from the rear landing gear, which has two sets each of as many tires (one under each wing) and was able to land safely, even without a tyre.

Confirming the incident, a SpiceJet spokesman said, “One of the rear tires fell off or burst while our aircraft was taking off from Bengaluru. The pilot landed the aircraft safely at the destination and all passengers have disembarked safely.”

Declaring that the aircraft has landed safely and all passengers are safe, Directorate General of Civil Aviation chief M Sathi- yavathy has ordered probe into the case.

Bengaluru airport sources said that when the pilot was informed about the tyre, there were fears that the plane may get stuck on the runway after landing in Kolkata. But luckily for the single-runway airport, the plane was able to vacate the strip after landing.

By Phani Ch