A United Airlines flight from Los Angeles lost a tire during takeoff on Monday, the second Boeing plane to lose a tire in four months.
The Boeing 757-200 took off from Los Angeles International Airport around 7:16 a.m. and continued on to its destination at Denver International Airport even after losing the tire, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. The plane landed safely around 10:10 a.m. with no injuries reported on the aircraft or on the ground, United Airlines said in a statement.
“The wheel was recovered in Los Angeles and we are investigating what caused this incident,” United said. The company did not say which tire on the plane was lost.
The plane had 174 passengers and seven crew on board, according to United.
United and the FAA said they would investigate what caused the tire to fall off.
This is the second incident in which a tire has fallen off a United plane in mid-air in four months.
In March, a United flight bound for Japan lost one of its main landing tires seconds after taking off from San Francisco International Airport. The tire landed in an employee parking lot and damaged several vehicles. The Boeing 777, carrying 235 passengers and 14 crew members, made an emergency landing at LAX and was towed away with no injuries reported.
United did not respond to a question about whether the causes of the incidents were potentially the same.
In January, a Boeing 757 operated by Delta Air Lines lost its nose wheel as it prepared for takeoff at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. Delta said a tire and rim on the nose gear broke loose and then rolled downhill. Passengers had to exit the plane, but no one was injured.
Concerns about the safety of Boeing planes have been circulating for years, particularly after two crashes of its 737 Max jets that killed 346 people in October 2018 and March 2019. Boeing agreed to plead guilty to one count of criminal fraud over the deadly crashes on Monday, avoiding a criminal trial.
