Incident at Moncton, N.B.

1996-10-11: Sometime after the aircraft left Moncton airport a piece of wheel rim was found adjacent to the runway. The landing gear was examined in Montreal (after dark). The wheels had proper inflation and no damange was observed. When the aircraft returned to Moncton, it was discovered that a one foot piece of rim bead had separated during the take-off or during the landing in Moncton. The aircraft was removed from service until the wheel could be replaced. Company maintenance reported that it was unusual for the tire to have stayed inflated during the landing in Montreal and then Moncton considering the size of the missing piece of rim bead. The wheel had 10,180 cycles since new, had been inspected 15 times during this time and during the last inspection on the 20th of Sept. 1996, no cracks were found.