March 8 (UPI) — The Federal Aviation Administration is looking into United Airlines operations after a wheel fell off one of its Boeing 777 departing from San Francisco.
Caught on camera, United Airlines Flight 35 lost one of its wheels almost immediately Thursday after taking off for a planned flight from San Francisco International Airport to Osaka, Japan, around 11:30 a.m.
Falling into an employee parking lot, the rogue wheel damaged several empty cars. No one was hurt.
The plane, which had 249 passengers onboard, was diverted to Los Angeles and taken out of service after it landed shortly after 1:20 p.m.
San Francisco airport’s spokesperson Doug Yakel confirmed to CNN that the plane had “lost a portion of landing gear tire during takeoff.”
Boeing 777-200s are designed with six tires on each of its two main landing gears and are designed to land safely with missing or damaged tires.
In 2023, the FAA proposed a $1,149,306 civil penalty against United Airlines for allegedly conducting flights on Boeing 777 aircraft that were not in airworthy condition.
