UK government department, the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB), published its report on October 24, 2024, into a “serious incident” involving a TUI 737-800 aircraft. The incident saw the aircraft have a “lateral runway excursion”, which occurred on October 20, 2023, at Leeds Bradford Airport.
The report found that one of the aircraft's nosewheel bearings had “suffered a catastrophic failure”, which was likely during the landing phase at the airport.
In the report, AAIB said that the aircraft had yawed left of the runway centreline after it touched down at the airport during stormy weather.
The pilots reportedly tried to correct the deviation but felt a "significant judder from the nose gear".
“This prompted the pilot flying to reduce the right rudder input and, although there were repeated brief right pedal inputs, the aircraft continued to deviate from the centreline and left the runway,” the report said.
The report concluded that there “was in fact no mechanical impediment to the use of additional rudder and braking”, which would have prevented the excursion. However, it added that “unexpected” juddering had left crew uncertain to its impact.
The aircraft had sustained minor damage and there were no injuries.