On January 22, 2022, at 1621 hours., a Learjet 31, registration N524HC, landed on runway 13R at San Antonio International Airport. There was one problem: its nose wheel was facing the wrong direction. And the crew had no idea.
By the time the aircraft came to a stop, its nose wheel was smoking. Shortly thereafter, there were flames.
"Ops 203 (Weber) responded to the Alert Il that was toned out at 1621 hours. for an aircraft on 13R that was on fire. Ops 203 closed the runway and proceeded onto 13R between Taxiway Alpha and Taxiway Lima. ARFF was on location and quickly extinguished a small fire that had started on the nose gear tire of the aircraft. Only water was used by ARFF to put out the fire, no AFFF was used.
The fire started because of the friction of the nose gear. The nose gear was rotated 90 degrees to the direction of travel of the aircraft. The crew had stated that there was no indication of any issues with the aircraft prior to touchdown. Upon touchdown the crew was able to keep the aircraft on the runway as it came to a stop.
There were 6 passengers onboard, along with the two crew members. The passengers were transported to Million Air by Ops 213 (Clements). There were no injuries to the passengers or crew. The damage was isolated to the aircraft nose gear, tire and rim.
Steven Henderson of the local Flight Standards District Safety Office (FSDO) was brought out to the aircraft to start the investigation and speak with the flight crew at 1720 hours. Once the inspector and flight crew talked, the aircraft was released to be removed and towed to the Million Air Ramp.
The Alert II was converted to a disabled aircraft at 1724 hours, and the aircraft was towed off the runway at approximately 1825 hours. Ops 213 escorted the aircraft and tug to Million Air with Ops 203 following.
Once the aircraft was on the ramp, Ops 203 conducted a special inspection of the runway looking for FOD and damage to the runway. Some FOD was removed from the runway. A thorough inspection of the runway did not reveal any damage. The runway was reopened at 1905 hours."
[xLightly edited for clarity.]
