A tyre fell off a United Airlines Boeing plane shortly after it took off from San Francisco on Thursday (Mar. 7), smashing several cars, NBC News reported.
Tyre detached after it ascended into air
United Airlines Flight 35 was headed to Osaka, Japan, and was carrying a total of 249 people on board.
The flight took off from San Francisco International Airport (SFO) around 1:20pm (local time) on Thursday (Mar. 7).
One of the tyres on the underside of the Boeing 777-200 detached moments after it ascended into the air, according to an unverified video on X (formerly Twitter).
The plane landed safely at Los Angeles International Airport around 1:30pm (local time) with no apparent issues after flight crew reported a landing gear problem, according to CBS News.
United Airlines arranged for a new aircraft to take the affected passengers to their destination.
Smashed, damaged several vehicles
The loose tyre reportedly smashed into and damaged several vehicles.
An X (formerly Twitter) user posted a video from the parking lot at SFO showing a dented fence and damaged cars that appear to have been smashed by the fallen tyre.
Another video uploaded on YouTube showed that the affected portion of the parking lot was cordoned off.
Working with owners of damaged vehicles
In a statement, United Airlines said that Boeing 777-200 has six tyres on each of its two main landing gear struts.
The Boeing plane is designed to land safely in the event of missing or damaged tyres.
"We’re grateful to our pilots and flight attendants for their professionalism in managing this situation," the statement read.
The airline also said that it would work with those who owned damaged vehicles at SFO, though it did not clarify whether the vehicles were damaged because of the loose tyre.
The Federal Aviation Administration will be investigating the incident.
Latest in series of incidents
This is the latest in the series of incidents involving United Airlines flights.
Just this Monday (Mar. 4), passengers onboard a United Airlines flight from Texas to Florida witnessed bright orange flames shooting out of the plane's engine about 20 minutes after takeoff.
The flight returned to the airport and made an emergency landing.
On Feb. 21, a United Airlines flight travelling to Los Angeles International Airport had to make an emergency landing in Chicago after a bomb threat note was found in the bathroom.
Law enforcement was quickly deployed to investigate the situation, though it is not known if anyone was held in custody or if anything untoward was found on the plane.
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Top image via @santonii/Unsplash and @Aviationmech123/X.