A FedEx plane landed safely at Duluth International Airport on Saturday morning in spite of being without one of its six tires.
Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Elizabeth Isham Cory said the Mountain Air Cargo 8553 plane operated by FedEx landed just after 9 a.m. in Duluth.
The cargo plane is an ATR 42 high-winged twin-engine aircraft with two tires on the front landing gear and two on each side. "One tire on the front is missing, so it still landed on a (front) tire," Cory said. "The FAA is investigating. Our investigations typically take several weeks, but we do have someone looking at it."
Duluth Assistant Fire Chief Jarry Keppers said his department was called to the airport at 8:01 a.m. with a report that a FedEx plane was missing a tire and was circling to burn off fuel before landing.
FedEx spokeswoman Matashia Gregoire said she couldn't comment on details of the incident but confirmed that the plane landed safely. Neither she nor Cory could confirm that the plane circled to burn fuel; an online flight tracker at flightaware.com showed the plane, which left Minneapolis, circling over eastern Duluth a number of times before finally coming in to land at 9:09 a.m.
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"We are thankful that our team members are safely on the ground," Gregoire said.
North Carolina-based Mountain Air Cargo couldn't be reached for a comment.
