Tire Explodes on Boeing Jet, Killing Two Employees

Just horrible.

Tragedy Strikes

A tire unexpectedly exploded on a Boeing jet operated by Delta Air Lines on Tuesday at Atlanta's airport, killing two workers and seriously injuring a third, The Guardian reports.

The deadly incident occurred, per The Associated Press, while the workers were performing maintenance on wheel components in a hangar at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport around 5 am.

According to the airline, the parts weren't attached to the plane, a Boeing 757-232, when the explosion occurred.

The deaths come as Boeing is under intense scrutiny for the safety of its aircraft — following a near-disastrous mid-flight doorplug blowout on an Alaska Airlines flight operating one of its jets in January — and even of its spacecraft.

Wheel Deal

As it stands, it's unclear what caused the tire explosion.

We know that Delta's Boeing 757 jet had arrived from Las Vegas on Sunday night, and that its wheel components underwent maintenance at a facility operated by Delta, which owns the largest 757 fleet in the world with over a hundred of the aircraft in active service.

As Quartz notes, citing a 1996 study in the journal SAE Transactions, the immense pressures contained by aircraft tires means that any of them are potential bombs in the making (in fact, even the tires on trucks can be deadly).

"The energy released by a tire burst can be equated to dynamite," the study reads, as quoted by Quartz.

The Aftermath

The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration said that it's opened an investigation into the incident, per the AP.

While it didn't speak of an investigation, the Federal Aviation Administration said that it was aware of the deaths and was in contact with Delta. The airline said that it was cooperating with local authorities and that it would conduct an investigation of its own into the incident.

"The Delta family is heartbroken at the loss of two team members and the injury of another following an incident this morning," the airline said in statement, per The Guardian. "We have extended our full support to family members and colleagues during this incredibly difficult time."

It's too early to start pointing fingers yet, but the deadly episode will undoubtedly add to the concerns over Boeing's safety track record.

More on Boeing: Flight Attendants in Boeing Disaster Feared Passengers Had Been Sucked Out Hole in Plane