Wheel broke into half

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stevensun

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Stevensun
So after landing and taxing to the parking, I realized something is wrong ( veer to right) but didn’t know what was wrong exactly. After I got out of airplane, I found right wheel broke into half and the tire expanded horizontally and is rubbing with brake. Does insurance cover something like this? ( owner insurance )
 
stevensun said:
So after landing and taxing to the parking, I realized something is wrong ( veer to right) but didn’t know what was wrong exactly. After I got out of airplane, I found right wheel broke into half and the tire expanded horizontally and is rubbing with brake. Does insurance cover something like this? ( owner insurance )
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I’m sure it would, but I wouldn’t make a claim for such a small fix. Insurance is for a major loss, not for a few hours of labor and a couple of simple parts.
 
Why did the wheel break? I can't imagine you landed hard enough to split it in half. Sounds like wear and tear to me. Possibly a defect that you could take the manufacturer.
 
Did the bolts holding the halves of the wheel let to, or did the wheel itself break?
 
If you make a claim, I suspect that they will investigate if it was mechanical failure or accidental damage. You have to read all the details in your policy coverage and exclusions. It is a really good idea to know exactly what your policy covers anyway. Typically, mechanical defects are not covered in insurance policies.

In your case, I don't think it is wise to make a claim. If they rule that it was pilot error from a hard landing, this will be on your insurance records forever. If they say it is not covered, your insurance records will still show that you made a claim, which may be an issue later when applying for insurance. It sounds to me like the bolts holding the wheel halves together broke or the nuts came off, which would likely not be covered by insurance.
 
I see insurance as a calamity policy - any successful small claims means a black mark on your record.
Often during renewal they ask (ie if you are being underwritten by a new company) "have you ever made any claims....? etc)
 
So mine did this.... (see pix below).

Not worth filing an insurance claim for - I put this in the category of "maintenance". Mine also did it on landing - I'll let the internet metallurgists speculate as to why this happened...

PA070025.JPG PA200030.JPG
 
I once had a brake disk break free of the rest of the wheel after landing a twin I was renting. Made taxiing to parking really tough. I wish I had thought to use differential power to aid in directional control. It must not have broken free until exiting the runway, because I didn't notice any problem while slowing during the landing rollout.
 
If you file a claim, your rates will likely be higher for the rest of your foreseeable future. Every year you get a quote you'll have to check "Yes" to the box stating "Have you ever filed a claim".

I agree with many of the comments here, insurance is for catastrophic claims.
 
I had the entire caliper break off on a PA-28. It was dangling by the brake hose.

I had landed at a semi-clear runway away from the home drome. Ice and snow on the runway not fully cleared, but the runway was open. I had one brake functional...

It was an interesting landing! But no problems. Once back at the ramp and while in troubleshooting mode, I pulled the emergency brake handle, which emptied out the brake fluid reservoir on the good side... OK, zero brakes! Taxi very carefully to parking! -Skip
 
wsuffa said:
So mine did this.... (see pix below).

Not worth filing an insurance claim for - I put this in the category of "maintenance". Mine also did it on landing - I'll let the internet metallurgists speculate as to why this happened...
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Look at the color of that wheel. It's black. That's corrosion. There will be pitting in the area of the tire bead seat, up against the flange, and that leads to cracking. The broken area is also black, indicating that it's been cracking for a long time. The small silver areas of the break are what finally let go suddenly.

Like I've said before, this stuff doesn't just happen. It's a lack of using eyeballs. That crack would have been visible from the outside of the wheel and should have been caught on annual inspection. It was likely cracked the last time the tire was changed, too, and someone didn't take a magnifier and check the wheel before replacing the tire. Wheels are known to crack and mechanics should be aware of that.[/QUOTE]
 
Once upon a time in Alaska, I landed a C-185 on a freshly graveled strip and upon applying the brakes, the entire left wheel exploded and the tire actually spun up the landing gear leg! Now that I was dragging the bare axle, the airplane pulled hard left and slowed down pretty fast.

I pressed the right brake as hard as I could and that wheel also exploded. I pulled the mixture, hoping to save the brand-new three blade propeller and the engine stopped with one blade pointing straight down. As the airplane settled onto its nose, that one blade was bent back into the air filter area. Oops.

After a few radio calls (there were no cell phones or interwebs back then), My boss showed up with the old two-bladed prop and a set of wheels. He flew it back to Bethel with no brakes.

It turns out the local alcoholic who assembled the wheels for us had overtightened the bolts and cracked the wheels. How they survived the taxi and takeoff was a mystery, for sure...

It wasn't my fault. Didn't do it. Can't prove a thing! [Bart Simpson]
 
Salty said:
I’m sure it would, but I wouldn’t make a claim for such a small fix. Insurance is for a major loss, not for a few hours of labor and a couple of simple parts.
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Uh so turns out the airplane wheels are pretty expensive ( this happened couple weeks before, should have asked around more for options). The wheel ( not the bolt) had a piece of metal broke off. And had to get wheel assembly. Which Cleveland didn’t sell specific wheel for just 1, they sell 2 together. So that came in around $2500 (new), I know I could have looked around (eBay or ...) for used one. But I checked eBay and couldn’t find matching wheels at time. (I was stranded when I flew long XC at SJC, so I was thinking to get it fix ASAP, if it happened at home base, I am sure I would take more time to find more options). Anyway. Mechanic charged me 7 hours ($125/hour rate) to take off my wheel, put a new wheel together, put a tube on and put tire back on. So this whole thing came to like $3500.
 
stevensun said:
Uh so turns out the airplane wheels are pretty expensive ( this happened couple weeks before, should have asked around more for options). The wheel ( not the bolt) had a piece of metal broke off. And had to get wheel assembly. Which Cleveland didn’t sell specific wheel for just 1, they sell 2 together. So that came in around $2500 (new), I know I could have looked around (eBay or ...) for used one. But I checked eBay and couldn’t find matching wheels at time. (I was stranded when I flew long XC at SJC, so I was thinking to get it fix ASAP, if it happened at home base, I am sure I would take more time to find more options). Anyway. Mechanic charged me 7 hours ($125/hour rate) to take off my wheel, put a new wheel together, put a tube on and put tire back on. So this whole thing came to like $3500.
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That sucks, I still wouldn't file a claim. That sounds like a lot for labor, did the mechanic find the wheel too? That would explain it IMHO.
 
Dan Thomas said:
Look at the color of that wheel. It's black. That's corrosion. There will be pitting in the area of the tire bead seat, up against the flange, and that leads to cracking. The broken area is also black, indicating that it's been cracking for a long time. The small silver areas of the break are what finally let go suddenly.
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That.

Ok, what with me living in the salt belt and driving old junk cars - leaking rims due to corrosion are purd near a sure thing. Take them to a tire place and they will clean up the rim, remount the tire, and in a year, they will be leaking again. So, I do what any normal hillbilly would do - pull the tires myself, clean up the rims with a wire wheel, spray the inside with zinc chromate or zinc phosphate primer and then OMC white (all from the boat store - if it works on an outboard in salt water, it will work on my alloy wheels). No need to mask if you put the outside of the rim down on some plywood to protect it from overspray. Don't know how long it will last exactly, because I rarely keep one of my junkers more than 10 years.
I would link to a video showing me doing this on my Matco wheels, but that would make me a bad person for promoting my videos. (earned $6.15 since 2016 on that one.)

WARNING: I'm pretty sure that if you did this on your type certificated aircraft the FAA will have you executed.
 
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Note that the wheel isn't going to be covered. If there was subsequent damage from the resulting accident, it would pay for that. Insurance doesn't cover mechanical failures.
 
flyingron said:
Note that the wheel isn't going to be covered. If there was subsequent damage from the resulting accident, it would pay for that. Insurance doesn't cover mechanical failures.
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Yeah that’s what I figured as well... I didn’t land particularly hard. So I don’t think it’s due to hard landing, but just an old wheel
 
Last annual just said: passed annual. So I guess my mechanic just pencil whipped (my first annual).. I guess it's just hard to find a good mechanic, and there is always a chance to miss something?
 
Pitiful. Can you imagine if car tires split in half sometimes
 
stevensun said:
Last annual just said: passed annual. So I guess my mechanic just pencil whipped (my first annual)..
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Out of curiosity, why would you think that?

I guess it's just hard to find a good mechanic, and there is always a chance to miss something?
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Contrary to popular belief, mechanics are human also.

it is entirely possible that something happened after the last annual to cause the failure. Also possible is a manufacturing defect that wasn’t detectable during inspection that finally failed. Reference United 232.
 
So a new brake disc or worse case scenario a new brake assembly and a tire if the sidewall is scarred up and two hours of labor max. Don’t get insurance involved in that.
 
**** happens, that wheel looks like it gave a long life. I would not expect a mechanic to have found a problem with that wheel unless they were changing a tire. Even then it probably would have been hard to spot unless it was done right before it was going to fail.
 
Thanks for all the input, this forum is really valuable to pilots and owners!!!
 
Looks like the rotor was riveted to the wheel. I've never seen that before but then again, I haven't seen a ton of brake systems on GA aircraft either.
 
Salty said:
Yeah, inconceivable. https://www.hotcars.com/16-heart-breaking-images-of-broken-car-rims/
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Those all seem to be from racing applications, where failures do occur, and these rims are abused.. that's a lot of power to take from the shaft and put it to pavement. The kinds of airplanes most of us fly, gingerly (hopefully) touching down at ~50-60 knots with minimal braking (most people coast) would seem to be a less likely candidate for that kind of rim failure

Still, I'm falling more and more in the camp of desiring experimental aviation. At least when things do break the owner has more scope and freedom with their repair.
 
stevensun said:
So I guess my mechanic just pencil whipped (my first annual)..
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FWIW: Considering how shiny the wheel edge fracture faces are, which indicate a fresh failure vs an old fault, that's a pretty bold statement to make. And while I can't see the lower fracture area on the rim, which would have been hidden by the tire bead, for your APIA to have seen that on the annual probably would have required x-ray vision. So if you truly value your mechanic's input perhaps take the failed wheel to him and see if he can figure out why it failed then have him check your other wheel for any similar fault??? ;)
 
Bell206 said:
FWIW: Considering how shiny the wheel edge fracture faces are, which indicate a fresh failure vs an old fault, that's a pretty bold statement to make. And while I can't see the lower fracture area on the rim, which would have been hidden by the tire bead, for your APIA to have seen that on the annual probably would have required x-ray vision. So if you truly value your mechanic's input perhaps take the failed wheel to him and see if he can figure out why it failed then have him check your other wheel for any similar fault??? ;)
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Sorry not trying to offend my mechanic, but I guess I just don’t think my aircraft is in that good of condition. I don’t know if AP just didn’t bother tell me the small stuff or he didn’t look in good detail. I don’t know how extensive annual is suppose to be. If it just prevent wings from detach mid air, then sure, he did his job ok.

I bought my airplane with prebuy that caught a lot of small stuff. I did my first oil change and found metal in the filter, so my impression is the airplane is in pretty bad shape and I got it for cheap. That’s why I was both happy and confusing when my AP told me my airplane is in pretty good shape. I guess he just seen a lot airplanes with worse condition?
 
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One of my neighbors has an Airbus wheel that was flatspotted, not the tire mind you, the wheel itself. Such is what happens when you land with the parking brake on.
 
flyingron said:
One of my neighbors has an Airbus wheel that was flatspotted, not the tire mind you, the wheel itself. Such is what happens when you land with the parking brake on.
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Yeah, but they got the early turnoff, right?
 
Greg Bockelman said:
it is entirely possible that something happened after the last annual to cause the failure. Also possible is a manufacturing defect that wasn’t detectable during inspection that finally failed. Reference United 232.
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That broken area is black with corrosion. That doesn't happen in one year. It was cracked at the last inspection, at least, and maybe for three or four inspections before that. Furthermore, the cracking was 99% probably due to pittin of the bead seat, something that would have been there for several tire changes.

The manufacturers are very careful in casting and machining these things. There's a lot riding on them (no pun intended) and a wheel that breaks at speed can result in a nasty accident with fire and everything. That bead seat is rolled to harden it and make it stronger. But corrosion changes everything, and too few people take it seriously.
 
Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe said:
That.

Ok, what with me living in the salt belt and driving old junk cars - leaking rims due to corrosion are purd near a sure thing. Take them to a tire place and they will clean up the rim, remount the tire, and in a year, they will be leaking again. So, I do what any normal hillbilly would do - pull the tires myself, clean up the rims with a wire wheel,
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Don't use a wire wheel on aluminum, or any steel wire brush. Tiny particles of iron are left embedded in the aluminum, and galvanic corrosion starts and progresses rapidly. Emery cloth, the black stuff, is also verboten. It has iron oxide as a component of the grit. But don't confuse emery cloth with the black waterproof sandpaper, which has silicon carbide grit. Good stuff.

Standard aviation practice.
 
Dan Thomas said:
That broken area is black with corrosion. That doesn't happen in one year. It was cracked at the last inspection, at least, and maybe for three or four inspections before that. Furthermore, the cracking was 99% probably due to pittin of the bead seat, something that would have been there for several tire changes.

The manufacturers are very careful in casting and machining these things. There's a lot riding on them (no pun intended) and a wheel that breaks at speed can result in a nasty accident with fire and everything. That bead seat is rolled to harden it and make it stronger. But corrosion changes everything, and too few people take it seriously.
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I suppose we could all send our wheels out for Zyglo inspection every year or two ... and I take that right back. Don't want the FAA to get any ideas.
This would be NBD if the parts were anywhere at all reasonable in price.
 
PaulS said:
**** happens, that wheel looks like it gave a long life. I would not expect a mechanic to have found a problem with that wheel unless they were changing a tire. Even then it probably would have been hard to spot unless it was done right before it was going to fail.
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There would have been oxide staining all along the crack. Hard to miss for any careful mechanic.
 
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