US Airways Flight 431

With the flightcrew aware that the anti-skid system was inoperative, the flight departed. Once near the destination airport, the flightcrew requested the longest runway for landing, which was granted. Prior to the landing, the flightcrew performed normal cockpit duties, and discussed the inoperative anti-skid system. About 2 seconds after touchdown, the left main tires blew. The local controller advised the flightcrew that the airplane was trailing smoke, and after the airplane came to a stop, the captain initiated an evacuation. Examination of the airplane revealed that the left main landing gear outboard and inboard tires, wheels, and brakes were ground away, and, other than the source of the inoperative anti-skid system warning, the examination did not reveal any failures or malfunctions. Examination of data retrieved from the Digital Flight Data Recorder (DFDR) did not reveal any system failures or malfunctions that would have affected the handling or braking characteristics of the airplane, except for the inoperative anti-skid system. With the anti-skid system disabled, the pilot flying could prematurely apply braking during touchdown causing a wheel to lock and the associated tires to blow. The quick reference handbook (QRH) stated that "after landing use minimum braking consistent with runway" and the minimum equipment list (MEL) stated "brake with caution." However, even though the QRH and MEL did provide general information, both documents did not provide specific information on the affects of an inoperative anti-skid system on spoiler deployment and/or touchdown protection.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset