15 August 2019

Conditions and Environment

METAR EINN 150530Z 27008KT 9999 BKN027 14/12 Q1013 NOSIG

• Good conditions: Daylight, good visibilities, light headwind.
• Runway wet.
• No aircraft deficiencies.
• No brake temperature sensors installed.
• Experienced and fully qualified crew. The first officer was significantly more experienced than the commander.
• Take-off on runway 24, 3199×45 meters.

Incident/Accident

• Starting at about 80 KIAS, an unusual noise was heard, originating from the left side of the flight deck, increasing in volume.
• The first officer reported he queried the commander, “Window okay?”, as he had on another take-off experienced a similar noise due to a window being not fully locked. He was unsure if the commander was able to hear or understand his question.
• The commander decided to reject the take-off due to the noise about seven seconds later at a speed of 149 KIAS, three knots above V1 (146 KIAS).
• A V1 call was not audible on the Cockpit Voice Recorder.
• Computed maximum speed reached was 160 KIAS.
• The crew vacated the runway, and, after consulting maintenance and attributing the noise to the left flight deck window not being properly locked, requested a taxi-in to a remote stand.
• The commander estimated the speed at the time of the RTO as 100 KIAS, and the crew agreed to use 120 KIAS to calculate a brake cooling time of 44 minutes.

Outcome

• 26 minutes after the RTO, tower reported smoke emanating from the left main gear. A fire service vehicle was dispatched upon request from the crew.
• 28 minutes after the RTO, a fire was reported on the left main gear.
• The aircraft was evacuated upon information and suggestion by the tower controller.
• One minor injury due to the evacuation.