A United Airlines plane travelling to Japan was diverted to Los Angeles on Thursday after losing a tyre while taking off from San Francisco.
Footage captured the moment the tyre fell from the plane. The debris landed in the car park at San Francisco International Airport, damaging parked cars.
Watch Video Below…
United Airlines Boeing 777-200 (N226UA, built 2001) lost the aft inner wheel on the left maingear moments after getting airborne from runway 28L at San Francisco-Intl AP (KSFO), CA. The wheel fell into a parking lot demolishing a parked car. No one on the ground was injured.… pic.twitter.com/xflQzYhxuX
— JACDEC (@JacdecNew) March 8, 2024
Fire engines stood by at Los Angeles International Airport as the plane prepared to land, but they were not needed, as the Boeing 777 landed safely two-thirds of the way down a runway, airport spokesman Dae Levine said.
United said the flight had 235 customers, 10 flight attendants and four pilots – for a total 249 people on board.
“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 said.
Officials say the runway was briefly closed to clear debris, but was soon reopened, with no further impact to airport operations anticipated.
The Federal Aviation Administration has launched an investigation into the incident.
