A United Airlines jet lost a wheel on its landing gear during takeoff from Los Angeles but managed to land safely at its intended destination in Denver without any injuries, the airline said.
“The wheel was recovered in Los Angeles and the cause of the accident is under investigation,” United Airlines said in a statement on Monday. It was the airline’s second accident this year.
The aircraft involved in Monday’s crash was a nearly 30-year-old Boeing 757-200 carrying 174 passengers and seven crew members, according to data from FlightRadar24. Boeing ended production of the 757 in 2004.
In March, a United Airlines Boeing 777-200 jet bound for Japan suffered a tire coming off in mid-air after taking off from San Francisco and landed safely at Los Angeles International Airport.
The wheel fell on a car in the airport employee parking lot, shattering a car window, but no one was injured.
Monday’s incident was the latest in a series of accidents involving United Airlines planes. In March, a hydraulic system problem forced one plane to make an emergency landing at Los Angeles International Airport. Elsewhere that same month, another flight skidded off a taxiway and crashed into a grass field while attempting to land in Houston.
Also in March, bright flames spewed from an engine on United Airlines Flight 1118, a Boeing 737-900 en route from Houston to Fort Myers, Florida, forcing the plane, with 167 passengers on board, to make an emergency landing in Houston.
The US aviation issue made headlines in January when an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 9 plane was forced to make an emergency landing after a door plug blew off in mid-air shortly after takeoff from Portland, Oregon, injuring several people.
United Airlines in April blamed an in-flight explosion on a rival Alaska Airlines plane that forced it to ground many of its Boeing planes, leading to losses, and blamed the incident for a $200 million hit to revenue in the first three months of the year.
Maya Yang, Jack Simpson, Reuters, The Associated Press
