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…
In this post:
United 777 wheel falls off after takeoff from SFO
This incident happened on Thursday, March 7, 2024, and involves United Airlines flight UA35, scheduled to fly from San Francisco (SFO) to Osaka Kansai (KIX). The flight was operated by a 22-year-old Boeing 777-200ER with the registration code N226UA.
The jet departed on schedule, and took off at 11:22AM. However, just seconds after takeoff, while the gear was being retracted, one of the six wheels on the back left landing gear fell off.
It’s interesting how this situation evolved:
- The United pilots didn’t realize that they had lost one of the wheels on takeoff, since there was no indication in the cockpit of anything being wrong, so they continued their departure as planned
- Thanks to some observers on the ground, air traffic controllers noted that an aircraft lost a wheel on departure, though at first they weren’t sure which plane lost a wheel; as a result, runways at the airport were closed, so that inspections could be performed
- Only well into the climb did an air traffic controller let the United pilots know that they may have lost a wheel on takeoff, but they weren’t positive
- The United pilots were obviously at first shocked and confused by the information, and then got in touch with the company, as there were no onboard indications of any issue
- 13 minutes after the incident, the use of runways 1L and 1R resumed, and then 25 minutes after the incident, the use of runways 28L and 28R resumed
- Eventually the pilots of the United 777 made the decision to divert to Los Angeles (LAX), declaring a “PAN” (expressing urgency, but not an immediate danger); the plane landed there on runway 25L around 1hr55min after departure, came to a stop, and was then towed off the runway by a tug, a bit over 10 minutes later
- Beyond the missing wheel, there was no additional damage to the aircraft
Below you can see the flight path for this flight, given that it diverted. It’s not entirely clear why the plane diverted to LAX rather than to SFO, but I’m sure there’s a reason. It’s possible they had to burn fuel and fly for some amount of time anyway, it’s possible that it was decided that the operational impact would be smallest there, it’s possible United had a spare aircraft there for passengers to minimize the disruption, etc.
Below you can see the video of this United 777’s takeoff, where it loses its wheel.
VASAviation also has a great video with the air traffic control audio from the incident.
An investigation is now being performed into what caused this. While Boeing has had its fair share of problems lately, I wouldn’t necessarily assume this is some awful reflection of the problems at the aircraft manufacturer. This 777 (and many others like it) have been flying for decades, and I don’t ever recall this happening before.
The United 777’s wheel caused damage on the ground
Of course it’s great that the plane landed safely, and that no one onboard was injured. Then again, that’s something that you’d expect, as one of 14 wheels falling off shouldn’t pose a risk to passengers.
The much bigger risk here was to people on the ground. Boeing 777s are heavy jets, and each wheel has dimensions of 52 inches by 21 inches, and weighs 265 pounds. That’s certainly not something you want falling on you from hundreds of feet up.
Since the wheel fell off while the gear was being retracted, this happened once the plane had already passed the end of the runway. The wheel ended up falling in an airport parking lot. The bad news is that it caused significant damage to a couple of cars. The good news is that the cars were unoccupied, so no one was injured. Cars can easily be replaced, while life can’t, so that’s definitely the silver lining here.
Someone is definitely going to be having an interesting conversation with their insurance company, though “Yum, so, umm, my car was hit by an airplane wheel.”
Bottom line
A United Airlines Boeing 777 lost a wheel after taking off from SFO. This is quite an unusual incident, since the pilots didn’t realize this happened at the time, and only became aware of it based on eyewitness accounts from the ground, which were passed on to air traffic controllers. The plane ended up diverting to LAX, where it landed safely just under two hours after departure.
What do you make of this United 777 wheel incident?
And this is yet another reason keeping runway protection zones clear of people is so important. There is always logic behind FAAs design standards.
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.
It was the lead story on the CBS Evening News, like it's related to the 737 Max crashes. Pathetic...
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.
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...
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.
You picked a fine time to leave me loose wheel.
I would think this more of a maintenance, or lack thereof, issue with United. It's happening to their fleet a lot.
I'm sure United would love to put this on Boeing, but odds are it's improper or lack of maintenance on United.
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...
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.
It's always amazing to me to listen to ATC and pilots, very reasoned and calm and precise communications
Not sure why this wouldn’t be the insurance responsibility of United Airlines rather than auto insurance
Somehow it'll have to be medical insurance...
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!
If it's Boeing I am not going!
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.
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.
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,...
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
Why did they divert to LAX rather than SFO? Was it that LAX's runways are parallel?
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.
Not surprised here.
Another car with broken glasses in the bay area.
Leave it to you to make a dumba## comment.
Now we have another United 737 incident in Houston.
Farmers insurance:
We know a thing or two because we've seen a thing or two!
Was the first thing I thought of, when I saw this.
Snappy advertisement: it did its job! :)
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...
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
Sounds like they lost a bunch of wheels today at Houston!
Now you can do another story about their MAX 8 that just had a landing gear collapse on landing at IAH.
Very fortunate nobody was hurt. Could have been much worse given how built up the area is around the airport.