Terrifying moment wheel falls of United airplane taking off from San Francisco ... trends now
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A 256lb wheel has fallen from an airliner as it took off, crushing cars where it landed after plummeting to the ground.
The United Airlines flight 35 left San Francisco Airport on its way to Osaka in Japan and was barely off the runway with the Boeing 777-200's wheel came off.
The plane with 235 passengers and 14 crew diverted to Los Angeles Airport after it was alerted to the landing gear failure at 11.35am on Thursday.
A 256lb wheel has fallen from an airliner as it took off, crushing cars where it landed after plummeting to the ground
The United Airlines flight 35 left San Francisco Airport on its way to Osaka in Japan and was barely off the runway with the Boeing 777-200's wheel came off
Several vehicles in the employee car park were badly damaged by the falling wheel that also mangled a fence.
The plane landed safely at LAX about 1.20pm with no further incident and no injuries reported on the ground.
'The 777-200 has six tires on each of its two main landing gear struts. The aircraft is designed to land safely with missing or damaged tires,' United said.
A new plane was scrambled to take the passengers to Japan from LAX.
The falling wheel was the latest mishap for a Boeing plane after repeated problems with its troubled 737 Max 8.
The National Transportation Safety Board said on Thursday it was probing a
