CV NEWS FEED // A Boeing 777 lost one of its tires seconds after taking off from San Francisco International Airport late Thursday morning.
The tire directly collided with multiple parked cars in the airport parking lot, causing serious damage to at least two, as well as to a nearby fence. It is unknown if either of the cars were beyond repair.
The plane was full with a total of 249 passengers and crew from the Osaka, Japan-bound United Airlines Flight 35 at the time of the incident.
No one was reported to be injured either aboard the plane or on the ground.
A video posted to X (formerly Twitter) documents the breakdown at the time it happened. A pair of additional videos show the extent of the wreckage that took place in the parking lot.
The New York Post reported that the flight was successfully diverted to and “safely landed at [Los Angeles International Airport (LAX)].”
A United spokesperson said the airline is “working to arrange a new aircraft to continue this trip for [the] customers.”
According to the Post, the airline spokesperson added that the Boeing plane was “designed to land without a problem when tires are either missing or damaged.”
The Daily Wire indicated that Thursday’s breakdown marked the “second major incident from just this week that [United] has had to deal with.”
ABC 7 Chicago noted that on Monday evening, “flames began shooting from an engine on the left side of” a Boeing 737 en route from Houston, TX to Fort Myers, FL. The shocking mechanical failure occurred just 15 minutes after takeoff.
“Several of the 167 passengers on board Flight 1118 took a video showing a line of flames shooting out of the engine,” ABC added.
The incident sparked an investigation by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). No injuries were reported and the flight was able to return to the George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston.
A passenger who was aboard the flight told reporters that “there was just this bright, flashing light that came through the window, and it sounded like a bomb went off.”
Another passenger recounted his experience: “The cabin was dark but it suddenly was illuminated with red, orange, and yellow colors. The engine was totally engulfed in flames.” He said he began to write a farewell email to his wife.
The Daily Wire stated that United “only offered passengers a $15 meal voucher and a $200 travel credit for experiencing the traumatic ordeal.”
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These two breakdowns continue a trend of mechanical failures on Boeing aircraft which seemed to begin earlier this year.
CatholicVote reported in late January:
Boeing planes have been involved in a string of incidents stemming from various mechanical failures, prompting critics to accuse the aerospace giant of prioritizing political ideology over passenger safety.
One such incident involved a Boeing 757 in a Delta flight that lost one of its nose wheels while taxiing on a runway at Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport in Atlanta, GA.
CatholicVote noted at the time that “[X] owner Elon Musk is one of the prominent voices who have been tying such incidents to the push for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in hiring processes, including at airlines.”
