Plane carrying 249 people loses tyre minutes after take-off
There were 235 passengers and 14 crew on board when the incident happened.
This is the chilling moment a United Airlines airplane bound for Japan lost a tyre minutes after take-off.
Footage shows one of the tyres falling off after the aircraft – with 235 passengers and 14 crew on board – departed from San Francisco.
The tyre landed in an employee parking lot at San Francisco International Airport, where it smashed into a car, shattering its back window.
It then broke through a fence before finally coming to stop in a neighboring lot.
Fire engines raced to Los Angeles International Airport where the plane made an emergency landing.
The Boeing 777 stopped about two-thirds of the way down a runway.
Airport spokesperson Dae Levine confirmed that the aircraft landed safely.
United Airlines said that the plane, built in 2002, was designed to land safely with missing or damaged tyres.
The passengers will be moved to another plane for the rest of the journey.
Boeing 777s have six tyres on each of the two main landing gears.
Aviation experts said planes losing tyres 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,’ said Alan Price, a former chief pilot for Delta Air Lines.
‘The remaining tyres are fully capable of handling the load,’ he added.
Price said a loose tyre is normally a maintenance issue and not a problem created by the manufacturer.
John Cox, a retired pilot and professor of aviation safety at the University of Southern California, agreed.
‘I don’t see any impact for Boeing as it was a United maintenance team that changed the tyre,’ he said.
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