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Two Delta Air Lines maintenance workers died on August 27, and a third was seriously injured when a tire reportedly exploded while being changed at the airline’s Atlanta Technical Operations Maintenance facility (TOC 3). Airline tires are typically inflated with nitrogen to around 200 pounds per square inch of pressure.
Airliner wheels are configured as two-piece “split” wheels with inner and outer halves that are bolted together with O-rings to seal the bead of the tire. It takes two workers about an hour to swap a tire on the airplane, including documentation. Delta TechOps Chief of Operations and President John Laughter told company employees that the accident took place in the department's wheel and brake shop where the tire would have been removed from the wheel and replaced.
The two killed were identified as Mirko F. Marweg, 58, of Stone Mountain, Georgia, and Luis Aldarondo, 37, of Newnan, Georgia. The injured employee was not immediately identified nor were the extent of his injuries revealed, though one news report called them “life-threatening.”
