Found out a 747 tire holds 200 PSI, blew my mind at the hangar

I was looking up tire specs on a 747 during a slow shift last Tuesday and saw each main gear tire is inflated to 200 PSI. Has anyone else had that sudden 'whoa' moment with a random aircraft stat?

3 comments

3 Comments

lisas7814h ago

Saw a 737 tire blow on the tarmac once, sounded like a bomb going off.

davidshah11h ago

@lisas78 omg that's terrifying. You're sitting there thinking you're fine and then BAM it sounds like a bomb. I would have jumped out of my seat and probably dropped my coffee all over myself. Did people start running or was everyone just frozen?

samreed10h ago

Actually I gotta push back on that a little @davidshah. I was on a flight where a tire blew during pushback and most people just looked up from their phones annoyed, not scared. The cabin crew even made a joke about it over the intercom like "nothing to see here folks." I think we've all seen enough action movies that a loud bang doesn't automatically trigger panic anymore, you know? Plus the plane shakes way worse during regular turbulence so your brain kind of filters it out. People really are more likely to freeze and wait for someone else to react before they start sprinting. What would you have honestly done if you were there?