A United Airlines flight bound for Japan had an unfortunate incident. The plane had 235 passengers. At around 1124 hrs on Thursday, the flight had to make an emergency landing as the Boeing 777 lost a tire midflight. As a result, a few cars were in the airport’s parking lot in San Fransisco.
The plane was rerouted to LA International Airport as soon as the malfunction was realized. Fire engines stood by as they waited for the plane to land with one tire less. Fortunately, the aircraft landed safely and was towed away, according to the officials at LA International Airport.
Doug Yakel, the airport spokesperson, said in a statement that “no one was injured in the incident.”
Even though the falling tire damaged a couple of cars in the parking lot, no one was there when the tire made an impact. The Federal Aviation Administration has assembled an inquiry commission to ascertain the reason behind the incident.
United Airlines said the car owners would be compensated. They also expressed gratitude to the pilots and crew for handling the situation. “We’re grateful to our pilots and flight attendants for their professionalism in managing this situation,” United Airlines said in a statement.
“We’re also grateful to our teams on the ground who were waiting with a tug to move the aircraft soon after it landed and to our teams in the airport who assisted customers upon arrival.
“We will work with customers and the owners of the damaged vehicles in SFO to ensure their needs are addressed.” Los Angeles airport spokesperson Doug Yakel said the runway was briefly shut down after the passengers were evacuated to allow crews to clear debris.
He added that there was no further impact on airport operations. Aviation experts, however, agree that plane tires coming loose are extremely rare and not indicative of a larger safety issue.
“In aviation, we never want to have single points of failure if they can be avoided, and this is a case in point,” Alan Price, a former chief pilot for Delta Air Lines, told the Associated Press.
