Airbus Industrie A300F4-605R incident near Fort Lauderdale, Florida, March 11, 2004

The NTSB's narrative final · quoted from the NTSB record

The airplane had a failure of all eight main landing gear tires during the landing roll on runway 27. According to the flight crew stated prior to departure they were given paperwork to perform an alternate brake system test in-flight. At the top of descent they began the test. The First Officer read the procedure and the Captain performed the tasks. The Captain stated that during the test she observed brake pressures of 2,100 psi on the left and 2,500 psi on the right. She was use to observing 2,500 psi on both during this test. She performed additional testing on her own to troubleshoot the 2,100 psi reading on the left system. She then returned the system to normal and made a write-up in the aircraft's maintenance log. The First Officer was the pilot flying and after the test they descended and approached to land at Fort Lauderdale. During the approach they performed the approach and landing checks and checked the brake system. They were using manual braking for the landing. The touchdown was proper, and the airplane immediately began to decelerate. The captain asked the First Officer if he was braking and he said no. The controller then informed them that he was rolling the equipment and when they asked why, he stated because of smoke and fire. The Captain performed the emergency evacuation checklist and the First Officer opened the aircraft door and deployed the slide. They then exited the airplane. A pilot in another airplane reported to the controller that the aircraft's tire prints at the point the airplane touched down " looked like their brakes were locked or something." Examination of the landing runway (27 Right) after the incident revealed four sets of heavy skid marks (two per bogie) that started from the initial touchdown point and were continuous to the aircraft's final resting point. There was evidence of wheel rim contact, from both the left and right main gear wheels, beginning about 500-600 feet after touchdown and continuing to the location where the aircraft came to rest. The first set of two skid marks started at about 1,200 feet from the threshold of the runway and was consistent with right main landing gear touchdown first. The total distance for the right skid was 2,383 feet. The second set of two skid marks started about 81 feet further down the runway and was consistent with a left main landing gear touchdown. Examination of the aircraft revealed the following: all eight main landing gear tires had blown, deflated, and come apart. The damage was confined to the side of the tires that was in contact with the runway and all eight tires were worn down to the wheel assembly; there were no flat spots or other indications of damage on the opposite side of each tire. All eight wheel assemblies were symmetrically worn down about 10 percent. All eight brakes, wheel speed transducers shafts, and brake fans were damaged; there was no damage to either the left or right bogie beams. Prior to changing the tires and removing the airplane from the runway, Federal Express maintenance personnel performed a Built In Test Equipment (BITE) test on the Braking and Steering Control Unit (BSCU). The BITE test revealed 12 fault codes. Airbus accomplished a test flight in order to reproduce the BITE fault codes that were downloaded from the incident aircraft's BSCU. The test flight was done in France on an A300-600 aircraft where the following scenario was simulated: "Aircraft in flight, landing gear extended, parking brake set ON. This test did trigger the same 12 fault codes on the BSCU. Post incident testing of the brake system components on the incident airplane showed no evidence of failure or malfunction of any of the system components.

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.