Narrative:

Ground agent came to cockpit to say we had a possible low tire. Without consulting the captain; he had called out contract maintenance to look at the tire. As captain; I went to look and talked to contract maintenance I called dispatch and maintenance control and they verified they were talking to the contract maintenance. He serviced the tire as per instructions from maintenance control and signed log book. Departed normally from gate with slow taxi to runway. On takeoff roll over 80 KTS felt a bump and minor vibration. First officer remarked it might be a tire. There was no yaw. Takeoff normal with minor vibration and decided due to being very much over max landing weight to continue. I remarked; tower would have advised if tire had blown on runway. Approximately 6;000 ft MSL. Departure control advised tower had reported tire parts on runway. Captain flew and first officer ran QRH tire failure checklist. Had on board pass riding pilot tell us what he heard ad saw on left side of aircraft. He came to cockpit and reported no damage to left wing area that he could see. We contacted dispatcher and advised we thought best course was to continue the flight to burn as much fuel as possible to reduce our landing weight. Had lead flight attendant come to cockpit to advise of what time and plans were and would tell flight attendant's more before landing. Dispatch agreed best course was to continue to destination. I had ops relay all verbal extra info while first officer advised center of our emergency needs at destination to include precautionary flyby to check gear/tires and have emergency equipment standing by. Talked to passengers on descent to advise of flyby and emergency equipment on landing. Asked specifically for longest runway; captain was flying due to having tiller control readily available if directional control problems would occur. Fuel reduced to 116;000 landing weight well below planned of 121;000 maximum landing weight for safer braking. Flyby assured us gear intact and at least one good outboard tire as checklist differentiated one tire failure versus two tire failure on same side. Tower had us fly another 10 minutes to clear all traffic for possible stopping on runway after landing. Normal approach at flaps 40 for slowest landing speed. Landed normally with minor vibration and absolutely no yaw nor pulling due to bad tire. Was able to exit last high speed and cleared runway. Emergency equipment evaluated no hot wheels; brakes; etc while our own maintenance got on intercom to put on new tire to taxi to gate. After approximately 30 minutes wheel installed and taxi to gate normal. All items entered into log book. Crew debriefed and dispatcher called for full report. Left inboard main tire had separated rubber; but was not completely blown. Possibly caused by contract maintenance. Service of same tire as per maintenance instructions.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B737-400 Captain reports an under inflated tire that was corrected by Contract Maintenance prior to departure. During takeoff tire failure was suspected and later confirmed by ATC. Flight continued to destination where a normal landing ensued.

Narrative: Ground Agent came to cockpit to say we had a possible low tire. Without consulting the Captain; he had called out Contract Maintenance to look at the tire. As Captain; I went to look and talked to Contract Maintenance I called Dispatch and Maintenance Control and they verified they were talking to the Contract Maintenance. He serviced the tire as per instructions from Maintenance Control and signed log book. Departed normally from gate with slow taxi to runway. On takeoff roll over 80 KTS felt a bump and minor vibration. First Officer remarked it might be a tire. There was no yaw. Takeoff normal with minor vibration and decided due to being very much over max landing weight to continue. I remarked; Tower would have advised if tire had blown on runway. Approximately 6;000 FT MSL. Departure Control advised Tower had reported tire parts on runway. Captain flew and First Officer ran QRH tire failure checklist. Had on board pass riding pilot tell us what he heard ad saw on left side of aircraft. He came to cockpit and reported no damage to left wing area that he could see. We contacted Dispatcher and advised we thought best course was to continue the flight to burn as much fuel as possible to reduce our landing weight. Had Lead Flight Attendant come to cockpit to advise of what time and plans were and would tell flight attendant's more before landing. Dispatch agreed best course was to continue to destination. I had ops relay all verbal extra info while First Officer advised center of our emergency needs at destination to include precautionary flyby to check gear/tires and have emergency equipment standing by. talked to passengers on descent to advise of flyby and emergency equipment on landing. Asked specifically for longest runway; Captain was flying due to having tiller control readily available if directional control problems would occur. Fuel reduced to 116;000 landing weight well below planned of 121;000 maximum landing weight for safer braking. Flyby assured us gear intact and at least one good outboard tire as checklist differentiated one tire failure versus two tire failure on same side. Tower had us fly another 10 minutes to clear all traffic for possible stopping on runway after landing. Normal approach at flaps 40 for slowest landing speed. Landed normally with minor vibration and absolutely no yaw nor pulling due to bad tire. Was able to exit last high speed and cleared runway. Emergency equipment evaluated no hot wheels; brakes; etc while our own maintenance got on intercom to put on new tire to taxi to gate. After approximately 30 minutes wheel installed and taxi to gate normal. All items entered into log book. Crew debriefed and Dispatcher called for full report. Left inboard main tire had separated rubber; but was not completely blown. Possibly caused by Contract Maintenance. Service of same tire as per maintenance instructions.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.