United Airlines plane loses wheel over San Francisco airport, debris damages cars

LOS ANGELES: A United Airlines jetliner bound for Japan made an emergency landing in Los Angeles on Thursday (Mar 7) after a wheel fell off and plunged into an airport parking lot. 

A video posted online shows the wheel dropping seconds after the plane takes off at San Francisco International Airport.

The wheel bounced into a car park used by airport employees, the local KRON4 outlet reported, with airport officials saying several cars were damaged.

Fire engines stood by at Los Angeles International Airport but were not needed, as the Boeing 777 made an uneventful landing and stopped about two-thirds of the way down a runway. Airport spokesman Dae Levine said the plane landed safely.

It was then towed away.

The Osaka-bound flight carried 235 passengers and a crew of 14, United said. The airline said that the plane, built in 2002, was designed to land safely with missing or damaged wheels. The passengers will be moved to another plane for the rest of the trip, United said.

Boeing 777s have six wheels on each of the two main landing gears. Video of Flight 35 departing shows the plane losing one of the six wheels on its left-side main landing gear assembly seconds after takeoff.

Debris landed in an on-airport employee parking lot at San Francisco International Airport, airport spokesman Doug Yakel said in a statement. No one was injured. The runway was briefly closed to clear debris, but it has now reopened, he said.

Footage of the aftermath shows a badly damaged Honda car with its windows shattered and rear passenger door smashed. 

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) will investigate, spokesman Tony Molinaro said.

The incident in San Francisco is the latest in a series of issues for Boeing jets this year. 

Another United Airlines flight was disrupted on Monday when one of the plane's engines caught fire. 

The Boeing 737, travelling from Houston to Fort Myers in Texas, was forced to turn around with 167 passengers on board. Footage showed a line of flames shooting out of the engine.

“I remember there was just this bright, flashing light that came through the window, and it sounded like a bomb went off, and then it was just a strobe of fire out the window,” said David Gruninger, who was on the connecting flight home to Florida with 15 of his friends after attending a wedding in Mexico.

“It was a very turbulent ride back, and it was a pretty harsh landing,” Gruninger told KTRK-TV. “This is something I’ll remember every time I get on a flight now.”

On Jan 5, an Alaska Airlines flight was about halfway to its cruising altitude when the door plug of the Boeing 737 MAX 9 blew out, leaving a gaping hole through which items flew out. 

Social media posts showed oxygen masks deployed and a portion of the aircraft's side wall missing. 

No one was seriously hurt in the incident, which triggered a 19-day emergency grounding of all Boeing 737 Max 9s. Alaska and United Airlines later found loose bolts on several of their planes during safety checks. 

Later that same month, the nose wheel of a Boeing 757 passenger jet operated by Delta Air Lines came off and rolled down a hill as the plane was lining up and waiting off for takeoff in Atlanta. 

US regulators last week gave Boeing 90 days to come up with a plan addressing quality control issues, with the FAA chief saying the company must "commit to real and profound improvements".