Airbus A340-300 incident near Honolulu, Hawaii, August 18, 2003
On August 18, 2003 at about 1:16 pm local time, a Airbus A340-300, registered CFYKX, suffered minor damage in an incident near Honolulu, Hawaii (Honolulu International airport). It was flown under foreign airline rules (Part 129). No one was hurt; 185 people were on board or involved. The weather was visual conditions (good weather).
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The NTSB's probable cause their words, unchanged
the failure of the center landing gear tires as a result of low tire pressure.
Source: NTSB aviation accident database, copy made October 4, 2026. Docket and reports at the NTSB.
What the record shows
- Date
- August 18, 2003 · about 1:16 pm local time
- Place
- Honolulu, Hawaii · Honolulu International · map
- Type
- Incident
- Injuries
- No one was hurt; 185 people were on board or involved.
- Weather
- visual conditions (good weather)
- Aircraft
- Airbus A340-300 · all A340-300s on the register
- Registration
- CFYKX · no longer on the register · serial 910
- Damage
- Minor damage
- Flight
- Flight · foreign airline rules (Part 129)
The NTSB's narrative final · quoted from the NTSB record
Both of the transport airplane's center landing gear tires (#'s 9 and 10) shredded during takeoff roll, damaging the door retraction arms and multiple fuselage skin panels. The flight crew could not retract the landing gear and elected to return to the departure airport and performed an uneventful overweight landing. Examination of the tire debris revealed there was significant inter ply tearing of the tires, suggesting the tire did not fail as a result of a cap failure. According to the operator and tire manufacturer, the failure signatures were consistent with a rapid and violent event, which can be attributed either to foreign object damage (FOD) or a low tire pressure situation. Since the #10 tire exhibited high heat signatures, the likely sequence is that the #9 wheel tire failed first, followed by the overheating of the #10 tire and its subsequent failure. The fact that no FOD was recovered with the tire debris and the fact that the nose tires did not sustain any damage, considering their in-line position with the center landing gear, lends more credence to the low tire pressure situation. The airplane underwent a regularly scheduled service check, which included a tire condition and pressure check, approximately 30 hours prior to the event. The tire pressure was not documented during the service check. A post-incident examination revealed the #9 wheel had a leaking fuse plug. The fuse plug was tested and found to have a 6-psi leak over a 12-hour time period. The pre-incident tire pressure was unknown.
The complete narrative as the NTSB published it. The NTSB's docket holds the report as a PDF and any photographs, statements and other documents from the investigation.
The factual record from the NTSB's investigation tables, in plain English
Pilot
- Certificate: airline transport pilot
- Ratings: multi-engine land; instrument: airplane
- Seat: left
- Injury: no injuries
Co-pilot
- Certificate: airline transport pilot
- Ratings: multi-engine land; instrument: airplane
- Seat: rgt
- Injury: no injuries
The aircraft
- Last inspection: approved inspection programme, August 16, 2003; 7 hours since
- Maximum gross weight: 606,300 lb
- Landing gear: retractable
- Engine: Cfm International CFM56-5C4 (turbofan); 0 hours total
The flight
- Departed from: HNL Honolulu HI at 1:16 pm
- Destination: SYD Sydney
- Flight plan: IFR
- Runway 8R, 12,000 ft by 200 ft
- A second pilot was aboard
Weather at the time
- Light: night
- Wind: from 070° at 9 knots
- Visibility: 10 statute miles
- Sky: a few clouds at 4,000 ft
- Temperature: 81°F (27°C), dew point 68°F (20°C)
- Altimeter: 29.98 inHg
- Observation at 12:53 pm from HNL
Injuries
| Fatal | Serious | Minor | None | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crew | 13 | |||
| Passengers | 172 |
Documents from the investigation the NTSB's docket: the evidence folder behind the report
The docket, the folder of records gathered during an investigation (maintenance records, photographs, witness statements, examinations), has not been read from the NTSB for this case yet; the list appears here once it has. Open the docket at the NTSB.
About this page
Everything above comes from the NTSB's public accident database: the narrative, probable cause and findings are the NTSB's own words, and the coded tables behind its report (pilot, aircraft, flight, weather, injuries, sequence of events) are written out in plain English. Pilots' ages, home towns and medical details are left out on purpose. The documents and photographs are the NTSB's docket, the folder of records gathered during the investigation, shown as the NTSB released them (the NTSB redacts some personal details first) and listed under the NTSB's own titles. This site's own text never names pilots, passengers or anyone else involved. A preliminary report describes what is known soon after the event and can change; the final report, with the probable cause, usually follows one to two years later and this page is refreshed when it does. Case number LAX03IA259.