Indian plane takes off without tyre but lands safely

A plane operated by low-cost Indian airline SpiceJet lost a tyre while taking off from Bengaluru on Tuesday, but managed to land safely at its scheduled destination, Kolkata.

The airplane had 211 passengers on board, including seven crew members. Ground staff at the Bengaluru airport saw the remains of the burst tyre after takeoff at 8.30 p.m. They alerted the air traffic control, which in turn told the SpiceJet pilot to make an emergency landing in Kolkata.

None of the passengers were injured. The tyre was from the airplane's rear landing gear, which has two sets of tyres that enabled it to land safely without any trouble.

In December, a SpiceJet flight travelling from Mumbai to Jabalpur hit a herd of wild boars who had strayed into the runway during its landing. The collision caused significant damage to the airplane, but did not cause injuries to the passengers.