Plane makes emergency landing after wheel falls off
A United Airlines plane had to make an emergency landing after a tire fell off just a few moments after takeoff.
According to an ABC7 News report, the flight was departing from San Francisco International Airport to Osaka, Japan when the incident happened. It had 249 people on board, including 235 travelers, 10 flight attendants, and four pilots.
No one was hurt, but several cars were damaged.
"The 777-200 has six tires on each of its two main landing gear struts. The aircraft is designed to land safely with missing or damaged tires," the airline company said.
United said in a statement that the flight was diverted to Los Angeles International Airport and it took passengers to their destination using a different aircraft later in the day.
Citing aviation experts, ABC7 News reported that planes losing tires "is a rare occurrence and not indicative of a larger safety issue."
"In aviation, we never want to have single points of failure if they can be avoided, and this is a case in point," former chief pilot Alan Price is quoted as saying. "The remaining tires are fully capable of handling the load."
NBC News reported that a federal investigation into the case is now underway.