A spate of flat tyres has beset the operators of Embraer's new light jet, the Phenom 100. The latest incident occurred on 25 September at the Williams-Gateway airport in Mesa, Arizona, involving the aircraft pictured at the bottom of the page (N644RM).
According to the FAA, the pilot reported brake problems during his approach to the airport at 9am that morning. "The plane subsequently blew both main tires while landing," the FAA says. "There was no other damage to the aircraft and nobody was injured. The Scottsdale FSDO is investigating."
In a similar-sounding incident two weeks and one day before, a Phenom 100 landing in Texas also blew both main tires. In that case, the pilot had received a brake failure message during the flight. When he landed, the Phenom 100's brake-by-wire system had indeed failed, so he resorted to use the approved backup method - the emergency brake. The emergency brake however is quite sensitive -- if you pull too hard, you blow the tires. Here's an article I wrote about the incident, with an eyewitness account.
The NTSB is investigating the Texas incident, but Embraer has been looking into the problem for some time, and is retrofitting new brake controllers and other equipment into the fleet to fix the issue.
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