Mt Cook investigating why plane lost a wheel

Mt Cook Airlines is investigating why one of its planes lost a front wheel as it was moving on the runway at Christchurch Airport yesterday.

The plane, carrying 66 passengers bound for Palmerston North, was on the runway when a nose landing gear axle broke and one of the two front wheels fell off, Mt Cook general manager Peter O'Regan told NZPA.

The passengers aboard the ATR plane were removed and had to wait two hours before they took off on another flight.

Mr O'Regan said the passengers were unlikely to have felt the wheel falling off.

"They probably didn't realise. The nose wheels are set up as such that if one fails the other takes the load," he told NZPA.

The incident happened shortly after the plane had left its bay. It was moving down the runway but was not trying to take off at the time of the incident, Mr O'Regan said.

The wheel was relatively easy to replace and the plane was back in service today, he said.

Mr O'Regan said the plane, purchased in 1999, had been extremely reliable, and he did not know of any similar incidents that had happened to any other Mt Cook aircraft.

The airline and the plane's manufacturer would investigate the incident, and the Civil Aviation Authority had been notified, he said.

- NZPA