Narrative:

Take-off was normal up to and including initial positive rate. I called for gear up and at that time we heard a bang from the left side and at that time aircraft developed severe vibration. We both knew we had a tire failure. We continued our initial climbout and asked the tower to check runway as we were almost certain we had blown a tire. A couple of minutes later they called back and stated that they confirmed what we thought...they said there was a large quantity of rubber debris on the runway; it was suggested that we may have blown both left main gear tires.I assigned the first officer pilot flying duties as I ran through QRH procedures; communicated with ATC; company and dispatch. I requested to hold until we could totally evaluate what we had and what was the best/correct procedure and plan for aircraft and passenger safety. We were at this point about 7;000 over max landing weight so burning fuel was mandatory unless I thought landing overweight would be a better avenue to take reference passenger and aircraft safety. Aircraft was at this point flying normal. One consideration was to continue on to an intermediate airport...that would burn the excess fuel needed to obtain landing weight and would put the aircraft at a major maintenance base and good passenger connections to our destination. I discussed these options with dispatch via ACARS and to my surprise; she suggested we continue to our destination and that she would send maintenance down to 'change the tire'. I said 'no way'...the intermediate airport or a return back to our departure airport were the only plans I would consider.after running through all the procedures and briefing the flight attendants and passengers; the first officer and I thought it would be best to burn down fuel in holding pattern before landing back at our departure airport. I relayed that back to dispatch and she still questioned me...'not our destination?' I said no and I was going to continue to hold and burn down to about 114;000-115;000 pounds. That would still give me fuel to do a low fly-by the tower to have them examine the gear and fly a wide pattern to set up for a long stable approach. It also left me enough fuel in case I had any other malfunctions with the aircraft as we set up and configured for the landing. She sent me a message via ACARS questioning me 'why I was waiting to burn down to 115;000 when my certified max landing weight was 121;000'. I stated that I realized what the max landing weight is on this aircraft but I needed for safety reasons to reduce landing weight well below maximum structural. I again briefed the lead flight attendant and advised the passengers what our plan was and told dispatch what we had planned. After declaring the inflight emergency earlier we requested that we wanted the emergency equipment and would like to return back for what was to be an emergency landing.I requested and was granted a low fly-by for gear inspection by the control tower. I flew by the control tower and they advised the left outboard tire was indeed 'shredded' and the inboard tire 'appeared' normal. We entered a right downwind eastbound to set up and configure for landing. We had burned down to our planned landing weight and planned using flaps 40 for a slower ref speed. We also discussed in case of an 'unplanned' go-around we would not retract the landing gear per procedures.after we configured the aircraft properly we advised the tower that we would be coming to a full stop on the runway and after event was over we would need to be towed clear of runway. We touched down in the touchdown zone on the right main gear first with a northwest wind and also to keep the initial weight off the left gear. After touch down first officer called 'spoilers' and the aircraft settled down onto the left main gear. Immediately after left gear contacted the runway; aircraft vibrated severely and wanted to pull left slightly. I had directional control using rudder and slight use of steering. Aircraft continued to shake and vibrate severely as we slowed using thrust reverse and partial braking.the anti-skid light illuminated on roll-out so we were concerned that the anti-skid system had failed and the use of moderate to heavy braking could pose a problem with wheel lock up and the good chance we would blow other tires reducing our braking ability. An ample length of runway was present so heavy braking was not considered nor needed at this point in rollout. Aircraft came to a stop on centerline and emergency equipment surrounded us. I shutdown the engines and we ask the tower if they see anything from under the aircraft such as smoke or fire; they stated they see nothing abnormal. I advised the passengers to 'remain seated'.I opened the cockpit window to converse with the rescue personnel and firemen. They said everything looked good with no signs of fire or smoke. We called company and requested a means to get the passengers off aircraft and were told equipment was on the way. We made a PA to the cabin that all was well and we would have them off aircraft in a matter of minutes once the equipment arrived. One passenger had to be removed prior to the general passenger removal because of chest pains. The deplaning of passengers went orderly and calmly without panic and/or confusion. Several passengers thanked the crew for safely getting them back on the ground.I called dispatch after all our duties and after landing checklists was completely accomplished and all passengers and crew were safely off the aircraft. The first officer and I stayed with the aircraft after maintenance changed both left main gear tires and towed us to the hangar. I at that point called dispatch and stated that we and the aircraft were now at the hangar. Operations called and said for us to go to the hotel if we were all ok and needed no further assistance and to pick the remainder of our trip up in the morning.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A B737-400 Flight Crew declared an emergency and returned to their departure airport when at least one left main gear tire failed shortly after takeoff.

Narrative: Take-off was normal up to and including initial positive rate. I called for gear up and at that time we heard a bang from the left side and at that time aircraft developed severe vibration. We both knew we had a tire failure. We continued our initial climbout and asked the Tower to check runway as we were almost certain we had blown a tire. A couple of minutes later they called back and stated that they confirmed what we thought...they said there was a large quantity of rubber debris on the runway; it was suggested that we may have blown BOTH left main gear tires.I assigned the First Officer pilot flying duties as I ran through QRH procedures; communicated with ATC; company and Dispatch. I requested to hold until we could totally evaluate what we had and what was the best/correct procedure and plan for aircraft and passenger safety. We were at this point about 7;000 over max landing weight so burning fuel was mandatory unless I thought landing overweight would be a better avenue to take reference passenger and aircraft safety. Aircraft was at this point flying normal. One consideration was to continue on to an intermediate airport...that would burn the excess fuel needed to obtain landing weight and would put the aircraft at a major maintenance base and good passenger connections to our destination. I discussed these options with dispatch via ACARS and to my surprise; she suggested we continue to our destination and that she would send Maintenance down to 'change the tire'. I said 'NO WAY'...the intermediate airport or a return back to our departure airport were the only plans I would consider.After running through all the procedures and briefing the Flight Attendants and passengers; the First Officer and I thought it would be best to burn down fuel in holding pattern before landing back at our departure airport. I relayed that back to dispatch and she still questioned me...'NOT our destination?' I said NO and I was going to continue to hold and burn down to about 114;000-115;000 LBS. That would still give me fuel to do a low fly-by the Tower to have them examine the gear and fly a wide pattern to set up for a long stable approach. It also left me enough fuel in case I had any other malfunctions with the aircraft as we set up and configured for the landing. She sent me a message via ACARS questioning me 'why I was waiting to burn down to 115;000 when my certified max landing weight was 121;000'. I stated that I realized what the max landing weight is on this aircraft but I needed for safety reasons to reduce landing weight well below maximum structural. I again briefed the lead Flight Attendant and advised the passengers what our plan was and TOLD Dispatch what we had planned. After declaring the inflight emergency earlier we requested that we wanted the emergency equipment and would like to return back for what was to be an emergency landing.I requested and was granted a low fly-by for gear inspection by the Control Tower. I flew by the Control Tower and they advised the left outboard tire was indeed 'shredded' and the inboard tire 'appeared' normal. We entered a right downwind eastbound to set up and configure for landing. We had burned down to our planned landing weight and planned using flaps 40 for a slower ref speed. We also discussed in case of an 'unplanned' go-around we would NOT retract the landing gear per procedures.After we configured the aircraft properly we advised the Tower that we would be coming to a full stop on the runway and after event was over we would need to be towed clear of runway. We touched down in the touchdown zone on the right main gear first with a northwest wind and also to keep the initial weight OFF the left gear. After touch down First Officer called 'Spoilers' and the aircraft settled down onto the left main gear. Immediately after left gear contacted the runway; aircraft vibrated severely and wanted to pull left slightly. I had directional control using rudder and slight use of steering. Aircraft continued to shake and vibrate severely as we slowed using thrust reverse and partial braking.The anti-skid light illuminated on roll-out so we were concerned that the anti-skid system had failed and the use of moderate to heavy braking could pose a problem with wheel lock up and the good chance we would blow other tires reducing our braking ability. An ample length of runway was present so heavy braking was not considered nor needed at this point in rollout. Aircraft came to a stop on centerline and emergency equipment surrounded us. I shutdown the engines and we ask the Tower if they see anything from under the aircraft such as smoke or fire; they stated they see nothing abnormal. I advised the passengers to 'remain seated'.I opened the cockpit window to converse with the rescue personnel and firemen. They said everything looked good with no signs of fire or smoke. We called company and requested a means to get the passengers off aircraft and were told equipment was on the way. We made a PA to the cabin that all was well and we would have them off aircraft in a matter of minutes once the equipment arrived. One passenger had to be removed prior to the general passenger removal because of chest pains. The deplaning of passengers went orderly and calmly without panic and/or confusion. Several passengers thanked the crew for safely getting them back on the ground.I called Dispatch after all our duties and after landing checklists was completely accomplished and all passengers and crew were safely off the aircraft. The First Officer and I stayed with the aircraft after Maintenance changed both left main gear tires and towed us to the hangar. I at that point called Dispatch and stated that we and the aircraft were now at the hangar. Operations called and said for us to go to the hotel if we were all ok and needed no further assistance and to pick the remainder of our trip up in the morning.

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.