Airbus 320 bursts two tires in emergency landing

Two rear tires of a Vietnam Airlines Airbus 320 burst Friday as it landed at the Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City.
All 164 passengers and crew members of the flight VNA-302 from Nha Trang Town in Khanh Hoa Province were safe and left the aircraft within minutes after the landing, said Le Hoang Dung, deputy chief of the national carrier’s (VNA) public relations office.
The crew had discovered abnormal signs in the craft’s hydraulic system connecting to the tires when they were landing at 2:45 p.m., forcing the pilot to use the emergency brake.
Dung said emergency ground forces had been ready before the landing to prepare for any problem.
The crew helped the passengers to get out safely within five minutes, he said, adding that there were 26 children and two infants among the passengers.
A source told Thanh Nien the craft had no other damage apart from the two punctured rear tires.
At 7:50 p.m. Friday, VNA and relevant agencies completed compiling a report on the incident following which the aircraft was towed away for repairs.
VNA said they were working with the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) and concerned agencies to identify the cause of the incident.
The plane was piloted by Captain Jual Ruiz of Peru with Vietnamese Nguyen Khanh Thanh as his copilot. Ruiz, who got his license from CAAV in 2005, has a record of 17,500 flying hours.
The Airbus 320 has been used by VNA since 1996. Apart from checks carried out for each flight, the last periodical check on the aircraft was done on May 25.