Next serious mishap

Boeing loses tire during take-off in San Francisco

(Bild: kameraone)

A moment of shock for hundreds of passengers after take-off from San Francisco airport: the Boeing 777 lost a wheel shortly after it had taken off. The plane, which was supposed to fly to Japan, was able to make an emergency landing in Los Angeles shortly afterwards.

The Boeing had around 250 passengers on board. Shortly after take-off, a wheel came loose and its remains fell onto an employee parking lot. Several cars were hit by the debris, but no one was injured.

United Airlines, the airline that suffered the mishap, emphasized that passenger planes are designed to land with missing or damaged tires. A Boeing 777 has six wheels on each side under the wings.

Here, a wheel comes off during take-off from San Francisco.

(Bild: kameraone)

Experts suspect maintenance problem
Experts assume that this is a maintenance problem at United Airlines and not a general problem with Boeing aircraft. The US Federal Aviation Administration will investigate the incident. 

Boeing is currently under increased scrutiny after an almost new 737-9 Max aircraft lost a fuselage section during a climb after take-off at the beginning of January. According to initial investigations, the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) assumes that four fastening bolts were missing from the fragment.

However, problems with tires, which are constantly exposed to extreme loads, occur time and again with aircraft from various manufacturers and airlines. In January, for example, a Boeing 757 lost a wheel shortly before take-off in Atlanta, and in February an Airbus A319 had to land in Brazil due to a missing tire.