Canadian investigators have observed an apparent failed outer bearing on the main landing-gear assembly of the Air Canada Airbus A319 which lost a wheel before arrival at Toronto.
Transportation Safety Board of Canada says images of the aircraft, which arrived from New York LaGuardia on 18 February, indicate that the failed bearing allowed the wheel assembly to “slip out of the axle”.
The axle nut remained “secure and safetied” to the axle, it says, and subsequent information from the US FAA and National Transportation Safety Board stated that the “fully-inflated” wheel had been found and retrieved.
After the outer right-hand main landing-gear wheel was lost the A319 crew requested a fly-by of the Toronto tower for a visual inspection.
Controllers confirmed the missing wheel before the aircraft landed without further incident. None of the 125 occupants was injured, says the safety board.
