Yesterday a Japan-bound United Airways Boeing 777 needed to divert as a result of it misplaced a wheel after takeoff. That’s one thing you don’t see day-after-day…
United 777 wheel falls off after takeoff from SFO
This incident occurred on Thursday, March 7, 2024, and includes United Airways 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 license plate N226UA.
The jet departed on schedule, and took off at 11:22AM. Nevertheless, simply seconds after takeoff, whereas the gear was being retracted, one of many six wheels on the again left touchdown gear fell off.
It’s fascinating how this example developed:
- The United pilots didn’t notice that they’d misplaced one of many wheels on takeoff, since there was no indication within the cockpit of something being mistaken, in order that they continued their departure as deliberate
- Because of some observers on the bottom, air visitors controllers famous that an plane misplaced a wheel on departure, although at first they weren’t certain which aircraft misplaced a wheel; in consequence, runways on the airport had been closed, in order that inspections could possibly be carried out
- Solely properly into the climb did an air visitors controller let the United pilots know that they might have misplaced a wheel on takeoff, however they weren’t optimistic
- The United pilots had been clearly at first shocked and confused by the data, after which obtained in contact with the corporate, as there have been no onboard indications of any concern
- 13 minutes after the incident, using runways 1L and 1R resumed, after which 25 minutes after the incident, using runways 28L and 28R resumed
- Ultimately the pilots of the United 777 made the choice to divert to Los Angeles (LAX), declaring a “PAN” (expressing urgency, however not a direct hazard); the aircraft landed there on runway 25L round 1hr55min after departure, got here to a cease, and was then towed off the runway by a tug, a bit over 10 minutes later
- Past the lacking wheel, there was no further injury to the plane
Beneath you’ll be able to see the flight path for this flight, on condition that it diverted.
Beneath you’ll be able to see the video of this United 777’s takeoff, the place it loses its wheel.
VASAviation additionally has an excellent video with the air visitors management audio from the incident.
An investigation is now being carried out into what brought on this. Whereas Boeing has had its justifiable share of issues currently, I wouldn’t essentially assume that is some terrible reflection of the issues on the plane producer. This 777 (and plenty of others prefer it) have been flying for many years, and I don’t ever recall this occurring earlier than.
The United 777’s wheel brought on injury on the bottom
After all it’s nice that the aircraft landed safely, and that nobody onboard was injured. Then once more, that’s one thing that you just’d anticipate, as one in every of 14 wheels falling off shouldn’t pose a threat to passengers.
The a lot greater threat right here was to individuals on the bottom. Boeing 777s are heavy jets, and every wheel has dimensions of 52 inches by 21 inches, and weighs 265 kilos. That’s actually not one thing you need falling on you from tons of of toes up.
For the reason that wheel fell off whereas the gear was being retracted, this occurred as soon as the aircraft had already handed the tip of the runway. The wheel ended up falling in an airport car parking zone. The unhealthy information is that it brought on important injury to a few automobiles. The excellent news is that the automobiles had been unoccupied, so nobody was injured. Automobiles can simply get replaced, whereas life can’t, in order that’s undoubtedly the silver lining right here.
Somebody is unquestionably going to be having an fascinating dialog with their insurance coverage firm, although “Yum, so, umm, my automobile was hit by an airplane wheel.”
Backside line
A United Airways Boeing 777 misplaced a wheel after taking off from SFO. That is fairly an uncommon incident, because the pilots didn’t notice this occurred on the time, and solely turned conscious of it primarily based on eyewitness accounts from the bottom, which had been handed on to air visitors controllers. The aircraft ended up diverting to LAX, the place it landed safely slightly below two hours after departure.
What do you make of this United 777 wheel incident?
