The pilot of a C-425 rejected his takeoff when the nose gear tire blew out. The pilot was reprimande...

Narrative:

The airplane owner claimed some avionics irregularities on a flight the day prior. He called me and asked if I could investigate the irregularities he noted and ferry the airplane to an avionics shop about 30 NM away. I arrived at the airplane and did a normal preflight and filed an IFR flight plan. All system checks were normal and I could not replicate the discrepancies he noted. I called for my IFR and taxi clearances; taxied to the runway and did a complete before takeoff check; again verifying the operation of the systems he specifically mentioned to me. I was cleared for takeoff and at about 60 KIAS I felt a rumble under the nose wheel at the same time I felt a loss of directional control. I immediately aborted the takeoff; maintained directional control with braking and rudder and stopped about 2;000 ft down the runway perfectly on the centerline. I called tower with my intentions and shutdown. I exited the airplane and all I saw was a blown out nose wheel. I tried to make additional calls to the tower but none were answered. After attempts to call the tower were unsuccessful I again exited the airplane and made a call to the owner.as I was looking around the airplane; I noticed the nose wheel fender about 1;000 ft south of my position. I was looking for any assistance but no one was coming out yet so I started walking to the FOD to investigate and reclaim. I brought it back to the airplane and again tried to call the tower. This time I spoke with him and he chewed me out for leaving the airplane and not communicating with him. In retrospect it was probably not the best idea to walk down the runway to pick up the FOD but my curiosity got the best of me and I wanted to check for any other pieces of airplane that I might have left behind.the maintenance shop brought a dolly out to tow the airplane to the facility and I met with the airport manager. We drove down the runway looking for other FOD and picked up another small part of metal from the fender. The maintenance shop is in the process of replacing and inspecting the nose wheel.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: The pilot of a C-425 rejected his takeoff when the nose gear tire blew out. The pilot was reprimanded by the Tower when he left the aircraft unattended in order to retrieve FOD from the blow out without advising ATC of his absence.

Narrative: The airplane owner claimed some avionics irregularities on a flight the day prior. He called me and asked if I could investigate the irregularities he noted and ferry the airplane to an avionics shop about 30 NM away. I arrived at the airplane and did a normal preflight and filed an IFR flight plan. All system checks were normal and I could not replicate the discrepancies he noted. I called for my IFR and taxi clearances; taxied to the runway and did a complete before takeoff check; again verifying the operation of the systems he specifically mentioned to me. I was cleared for takeoff and at about 60 KIAS I felt a rumble under the nose wheel at the same time I felt a loss of directional control. I immediately aborted the takeoff; maintained directional control with braking and rudder and stopped about 2;000 FT down the runway perfectly on the centerline. I called Tower with my intentions and shutdown. I exited the airplane and all I saw was a blown out nose wheel. I tried to make additional calls to the Tower but none were answered. After attempts to call the Tower were unsuccessful I again exited the airplane and made a call to the owner.As I was looking around the airplane; I noticed the nose wheel fender about 1;000 FT south of my position. I was looking for any assistance but no one was coming out yet so I started walking to the FOD to investigate and reclaim. I brought it back to the airplane and again tried to call the Tower. This time I spoke with him and he chewed me out for leaving the airplane and not communicating with him. In retrospect it was probably not the best idea to walk down the runway to pick up the FOD but my curiosity got the best of me and I wanted to check for any other pieces of airplane that I might have left behind.The Maintenance Shop brought a dolly out to tow the airplane to the facility and I met with the Airport Manager. We drove down the runway looking for other FOD and picked up another small part of metal from the fender. The Maintenance Shop is in the process of replacing and inspecting the nose wheel.

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.

Attributes
ACN	965026
Time
Date	201108
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Cessna 425 Corsair
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Takeoff
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	Nose Gear Tire
Person 1
Function	Pilot Flying Single Pilot
Qualification	Flight Crew Multiengine Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Flight Instructor Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 350 Flight Crew Total 9900 Flight Crew Type 400
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical

The pilot of a C-425 rejected his takeoff when the nose gear tire blew out. The pilot was reprimanded by the tower when he left the aircraft unattended in order to retrieve FOD from the blow out without advising ATC of his absence.