We returned from Tampa on Saturday evening. The President of the company that I fly for had to play "just one more" round of golf, so we got a late start home. Upon landing at Harrisburg International Airport, we blew one of the two tires on our nose wheels and although it did cause some concern with steering the plane, we were able to stay on the runway and get everyone safely to the tarmac for deplaning. Today, I have to go back to the airport and complete paperwork for the NTSB and FAA, which will take a few hours, not to mention the follow-up inspection and interviews that will follow. The number one question will be, "What caused the tire to fail?" Believe me, this will be a big deal. The tire and wheel was changed, so the plane could get put back in service, but the blown tire on the wheel needed to be contained in a locked area until the NTSB and FAA has had a chance to inspect it.
If the tire would have blown on takeoff and before I made V1 speed, I would or could have aborted the takeoff, but how or why would I abort a landing with a blown nose tire? I can't change the tire while in flight, so we had no option but to complete the landing roll. First thing I looked for was where were the runway lights and signs and can I avert hitting them? Luckily, like I wrote earlier, we were able to stay on the runway and get the plane off the runway and onto the tarmac where we were able to get everyone off safely.