Decoding the black box will help the search for the lost front wheel of Vietnam Airlines’ ATR-72 plane, said the Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam (CAAV). 

>> VNA looking for lost wheel, seeking information from France >> VNA plane missing front wheel after landing The CAAV is waiting for the results of the decoding of the back box of plane  VN - B219, which was found missing one of its two front landing-wheels after it landed in the Da Nang Airport on October 21, said Dinh Viet Thang, deputy head of CAAV. The decoding will provide the exact times at which the plane opened and closed its landing wheels. With this information, concerned agencies can pinpoint the area where the loss of the wheel occurred, Thang said. This will make the search more effective and less time-consuming, he added. Regarding the shaft to which the two front wheels were fixed, Thang said the broken part will be sent to the BEA (Bureau d'Enquêtes et d'Analyses pour la sécurité de l'aviation civile), the French authority responsible for safety investigations into accidents or incidents in civil aviation, for examination and conclusion. It is expected that on October 25, the plane in question will be fixed with a new shaft and the damaged shaft will be sent to France, Thang said. The incident is classified at D (serious) level, so it must be fully investigated for authorities to come to a clear conclusion regarding the cause of the missing wheel. The result of the investigation will be reported to the International Aviation Airlines Administration, which in turn will issue precautions for purpose of prevention on a global basis, the official said. According to the statistics of the CAAV, from January 1, 2013 to September 30, 2013, 144 airline incidents have been reported, of which 114 were of A category, 21 were of B category, and 9 were of C category. Meanwhile, the recent incident of October 21 is the first classified in D category, which requires an investigation. The CAAV has asked three districts 10 km away from Da Nang airport to take part in the search for the missing wheel. At the Cat Bi Airport in northern Hai Phong City, where the plane departed on October 2, air port authorities mobilized 30 staff members to look for the wheel, but have failed to find it. The airport authorities also asked two surrounding wards to join the search for the missing wheel within a radius of three kilometers. As previously reported, the aircraft took off from Cat Bi Airport at 12:45 pm and landed in central Da Nang City at 2:15 on schedule on October 21.

After all 41 passengers and the crew had left the aircraft, airport technicians carried out a routine examination and found that it had lost one of its two front wheels.