Bermuda's International Airport on Saturday for almost four hours after it got a flat tyre.

Delays were caused for arriving aircraft, some of which had to return to the US.

Airport duty officer Skip Tatem told The Royal Gazette yesterday that the aircraft was taxiing into position for take off at 2.45 p.m. and one of its tyres blew out.

He said the plane's braking system had locked and the heat this generated probably caused the flat tyre on the aeroplane's starboard side.

The C-130's crew and Airport Services Bermuda (ASB) mechanics launched into repairing the problem which was hampered by the fact that the massive plane was fully loaded.

Fortunately, continued Mr. Tatem, the plane was carrying a spare braking system which was installed along with a new wheel.

At the time the incident occurred, USAir, Delta, Continental and British Airways flights were inbound to the Island, said Mr. Tatem.

The USAir flight from Charlotte, North Carolina, diverted to Norfolk, Virginia; the Delta flight from Atlanta diverted to Boston; the Continental flight from Newark returned there; and the British Airways flight from London, Gatwick went into a holding pattern.

Meanwhile the American Airlines flight from JFK in New York delayed its departure.

By 6.40 p.m. the aircraft was repaired and the runway was cleared, said Mr.

Tatem.

The British Airways flight landed just after 7 p.m. and the other flights landed between 9 p.m. and 10.30 p.m. and left again that night.

"Fortunately,'' said Mr. Tatem, "there were no flights on the Island waiting to depart as all our regular traffic had gone out.'' And he pointed out that something similar had happened about five years ago when another Egyptian aircraft broke down on the runway.

Mr. Tatem praised the staff at the Airport, ASB and Airport Fire Station for the tremendous job they did during the incident.

He added that the passengers took the delays well although one or two were a little upset about being made late for their connecting flights and returning home.

But he noted: "It was just one of those things. There was nothing that could have been done to prevent it.''