A United Airlines flight headed for Japan safely landed in Los Angeles after losing a tyre during takeoff from San Francisco.
Video footage captured the tyre falling off the left-side landing gear shortly after departure, causing damage to a car in an employee parking lot on the ground but no injuries, San Francisco Airport (SFO) spokesman Doug Yakel said in a statement.
According to Associated Press, fire crews were on standby in Los Angeles but were not needed as the B777 touched down without incident.
The United Airlines plane, capable of landing safely with missing tyres, carried 235 passengers and 14 crew members, all of whom continued their journey on another aircraft, AP reported.
Aviation experts noted that tyre loss is uncommon and does not suggest broader safety concerns.
“In aviation, we never want to have single points of failure if they can be avoided, and this is a case in point,” Delta Air Lines former chief pilot Alan Price said.
“The remaining tyres are fully capable of handling the load.”
Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Tony Molinaro said the FAA will investigate the incident.
More drama
In an eventful week for United Airlines, the carrier faced three other emergency diversions.
On Friday, flight 821 travelling from San Francisco to Mexico City had to divert to LA due to a problem with its hydraulic system. The A320, carrying 105 passengers and five crew, landed safely, The Guardian reported.
Elsewhere, flight 2477, a B737 MAX 8 carrying 160 passengers and six crew, veered off a taxiway while landing at Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport. Passengers disembarked safely via mobile stairs.
Earlier in the week, flight 1118, a B737-900 bound for Fort Myers (Florida) experienced engine flames mid-flight, prompting an emergency landing in Houston. According to the Guardian, passenger reports described panic on board the plane.
Additionally, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) released a preliminary report detailing an incident involving flight 1539, a B737-8, which encountered “stuck rudder pedals” during landing at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey last month.
Read our review of a United Airlines service (UA830 and UA410) from Sydney to San Francisco to Miami.
