Narrative:

After takeoff as we sucked the landing gear into the well; we noticed a vibration from the nose gear. After briefly talking about it with the first officer the flight attendant called up and asked if everything was O.K. With the nose gear. As some of the nose tires vibrate I didn't think too much of it as that happens quite often. When she called and said that she felt the vibration I figured there might be a possibility that a nose tire could have went flat. I called maintenance and advised them of the situation; we chose to continue to our destination rather than returning to our departure airport. On approach I advised ATC that as a precaution I would like the trucks standing by. I didn't declare an emergency but I guess ATC did. On landing the aircraft rolled out perfectly. At that point I figured that nothing was wrong with the tires. Since the fire trucks were already there I asked if they could take a quick look at the nose tires. I was very surprised to find out from the fire official that the right nose tire was peeled off the rim. I then asked for a tug to take us to the gate. I was even more surprised once reaching the gate that the nose tires were fine. Apparently the fire official didn't know what the nose tires look like. Only thing that I can think off is that the chine threw him off. At that point I looked over the nose gear and decided to return to ZZZ. I called dispatch and maintenance but the ball was all ready rolling to have us swap planes.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Flight crew of a commuter jet mistakenly believe a nose tire had failed on takeoff. Land under emergency conditions and learn the aircraft is undamaged.

Narrative: After takeoff as we sucked the landing gear into the well; we noticed a vibration from the nose gear. After briefly talking about it with the First Officer the Flight Attendant called up and asked if everything was O.K. with the nose gear. As some of the nose tires vibrate I didn't think too much of it as that happens quite often. When she called and said that she felt the vibration I figured there might be a possibility that a nose tire could have went flat. I called Maintenance and advised them of the situation; we chose to continue to our destination rather than returning to our departure airport. On approach I advised ATC that as a precaution I would like the trucks standing by. I didn't declare an emergency but I guess ATC did. On landing the aircraft rolled out perfectly. At that point I figured that nothing was wrong with the tires. Since the fire trucks were already there I asked if they could take a quick look at the nose tires. I was very surprised to find out from the fire official that the right nose tire was peeled off the rim. I then asked for a tug to take us to the gate. I was even more surprised once reaching the gate that the nose tires were fine. Apparently the fire official didn't know what the nose tires look like. Only thing that I can think off is that the chine threw him off. At that point I looked over the nose gear and decided to return to ZZZ. I called dispatch and maintenance but the ball was all ready rolling to have us swap planes.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.