Originally Posted by
DaviddesJ
Really? Doesn't it seem more likely that he aborted takeoff due to some unrelated cause (e.g., engine problem) and then coming down hard blew the tire? The blown tire could be the root cause, but it seems more likely to have occurred later (since it's not at all surprising that coming down hard on the runway would blow the tire).
All we know is that US has been very consistent in stating it was a tire issue that
started the incident sequence, and all I'm saying is that I saw nothing to contradict that. This assertion has persisted today as well (such as in this report:
http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?se...cal&id=9465339).
A blown tire could have distributed debris to the engines, or the crew might not have known if or what the collateral damage was and elected to do a late abort, or the abort could have been complicated by a wind gust. Maybe the crew did an incredible job getting the plane back on the ground with contents intact - or maybe they did a horrible abort and they should never have gotten off the ground. We'll find out as the investigation plays out.