Yesterday a Japan-bound United Airlines Boeing 777 had to divert because it lost a wheel after takeoff. That’s something you don’t see every day…
Continue reading: Ouch: United Boeing 777 Loses Wheel After Takeoff
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Very fortunate nobody was hurt. Could have been much worse given how built up the area is around the airport.
Now you can do another story about their MAX 8 that just had a landing gear collapse on landing at IAH.
It’s incredible that we have such crisp footage of the incident live as it happened. I wonder what would have happened if the plane had just continued on to Osaka in blissful ignorance. By the time they landed people back in SFO would probably still be wondering where that parking lot tire came from!
You mentioned footage of the takeoff, but the “LA Flights” channel captured live footage of the emergency landing as well as the tow off the runway. You can clearly see the spot where the missing tire should be.
https://youtu.be/skESnVD93Ok?si=X-fUyU-lQSy82cEJ
Why did they divert to LAX rather than SFO? Was it that LAX's runways are parallel?
The NTSB also said it was still investigating a loss of steering control on a UA 737MAX 8 aircraft that landed at EWR about a month ago. UA was able to recreate the problem on a test flight and referred the case to the NTSB which believes it is caused by the freezing of part of the rudder control system after hours at cruise altitude - the plane had just arrived from the Bahamas. Also, UA apparently deactivates parts of the rudder control system which allows for category IIIB landings and that plane (at least) only can do cat IIIA.
Maybe these are all just a bunch of isolated incidents but the number of incidents that involve UA but not other airlines is well beyond statistically normal relative to the number of flights they operate.
And ABC News covered the 777 wheel story on its broadcast last night along w/ footage of the 737 engine fire that had recently happened. Most of the public isn't moved by sensational journalism but when it is multiple problems at the same company, people begin to take notice
My spouse witnessed this first hand from his office at a SFO airport facility adjacent to the runway; he immediately identified the aircraft and notified multiple UA local operations contacts - there were also other eyewitnesses on the airfield - so UA and SFO knew about this within minutes even if the pilots didn’t. I believe the decision to divert to LAX vs. SFO was taken due to SFO already being on limited runway operations due to a current closure.
SFO already had a huge delay program due to long-term runway closure and then they stopped operations for 25 min to inspect for runway debris. An emergency landing would shut the airport down for another 10-20 min.
Was the first thing I thought of, when I saw this.
Snappy advertisement: it did its job! 🙂
just a reminder that United is one of the largest Boeing operators in the world. Out of nearly 950 aircraft, almost 780 are Boeing aircraft of multiple models and vintages.
United is not the only operator of any model it operates which means these incidents should statistically be happening at other airlines as well if the issue was a Boeing issue.
Not sure why this wouldn’t be the insurance responsibility of United Airlines rather than auto insurance
It's always amazing to me to listen to ATC and pilots, very reasoned and calm and precise communications
We were on a recent (2/27) flight from Denver to Lihue, Kauai that was delayed almost two hours while they changed the front tire and inspected its braking system of the 757 we were flying on. Ground crew discovered problem while inspecting before takeoff. Our Captain was very hands on the whole time, down on the tarmac speaking with the grounds crew until satisfied that the issue had been resolved. He then made up a significant portion of the delay and got us to Lihue before darkness set in around 7 pm.
I'm sure United would love to put this on Boeing, but odds are it's improper or lack of maintenance on United.
I would think this more of a maintenance, or lack thereof, issue with United. It's happening to their fleet a lot.
It does seem like United has more incidents with its fleet compared to other airlines. I fly UA very rarely, mostly flying AA, DL, and B6. I'm a huge avgeek, so I love to planespot. I've noticed that UA's aircraft seem to have more cosmetic issues compared to other airlines (including AA and DL). Now, cosmetic issues compared to what caused this incident and others is different, but it does signal some sort of extra cost savings decisions being made regarding this area which haven't been made at other airlines.
When the pandemic happened, United stopped painting all aircraft to limit spending. However, a while later some aircraft looked to be in a horrible state. Eventually, UA started painting aircraft again, starting with the aircraft most in need of a new paint job. This was because it was starting to become a safety issue, where so much paint had come off that the underlying materials were now exposed and vulnerable to damage. This does show that United has a history of making such decisions, and they turn back when they start having visible safety issues. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that UA is not maintaining certain parts of the aircraft as well as it should be.
It was the lead story on the CBS Evening News, like it's related to the 737 Max crashes. Pathetic...
Been there. Done that. UA DC10 to LAX back in the day. Tower radioed a wheel found on runway was probably our plane. Diverted to ORD and assumed crash position. It was stressful. Journey continued on another plane. Don’t recall hearing of other such incidents until this week.
ABC has carried UA in their first block of news and the Houston runway excursion was the first story last night
Regardless of the reason for all of these events, UA has suffered some brand damage this week.
Perhaps it is just bad timing that so many events happen to the same airline in such a short period of time but the NTSB and FAA are investigating each of these events and will connect whatever dots should be connected.
Because if you have insurance, you claim through your car insurer, so the conversation will be with them.
Of course, they will then seek reimbursement from the airline - but it's not up to the car owner to try to find who caused it, then find the right contact in United, then argue and wait months for them to come to seek agreement - all while you can't drive. That's why you have insurance!
And this is yet another reason keeping runway protection zones clear of people is so important. There is always logic behind FAAs design standards.