The falling wheel caused damage to cars and property, according to the airline.
A United Airlines Boeing 777-200ER plane lost a wheel from the left main gear shortly after takeoff from San Francisco International Airport on Thursday.
Flight UA35, which was headed for Osaka, Japan, diverted to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) after the incident, which happened at about 1:20 p.m., where it made a forced emergency landing.
The plane landed safely at LAX, according to airport spokesperson Dae Levine. Fire engines stood by but weren’t needed. The aircraft came to a stop about two-thirds of the way down a runway and was then towed away.
“Our team quickly arranged for a new aircraft to take customers to Osaka this evening,” a United Airlines spokesperson told The Epoch Times in an emailed statement.
“We’re grateful to our pilots and flight attendants for their professionalism in managing this situation. We’re also grateful to our teams on the ground who were waiting with a tug to move the aircraft soon after it landed and to our teams in the airport who assisted customers upon their arrival,” the airline stated.
Video and images of the incident circulating on social media show the wheel detaching and falling shortly after it takes off. It also shows damage to vehicles and a barrier fence allegedly caused by the wheel.
🚨#BREAKING: United Airlines Boeing 777 loses tire while taking off from crushing multiple cars on the ground⁰⁰📌#SanFrancisco | #California ⁰
— R A W S A L E R T S (@rawsalerts) March 7, 2024
A United Flight 35, operated by a 2002 Boeing 777-222(ER) plane (N226UA), had to make a forced emergency landing after losing one or… pic.twitter.com/ip5A8XYsJ7
“We will work with customers as well as with the owners of the damaged vehicles in SFO to ensure their needs are addressed,” United stated.
Flight attendant Buffy Bartley arrived at a staff car park at San Francisco International Airport soon after the wheel fell off a plane and damaged several cars. According to Ms. Bartley, as she walked towards her car, she noticed that other airline crew members were filming and taking pictures of the debris with their phones.
“It looked like there was clearly a lot of damage,” she told CNN.
Initially, Ms. Bartley thought that one of the cars had caught fire due to the amount of damage. However, she soon realized that the debris from the wheel had caused the damage. On speaking to people at the scene, she learned that the object had fallen from the sky just five minutes before she arrived.
Her car was parked about eight vehicles away from where the tire had struck.
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