A United Airlines flight landed in Denver Monday after losing a wheel on takeoff from Los Angeles International Airport.
United Flight 1001, a Boeing 757-200 that departed from Los Angeles at about 7:15 a.m. PT, had 174 passengers and seven crewmembers aboard. No injuries were reported, United Airlines said in a statement.
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"United Flight 1001 landed safely in Denver after losing one wheel on takeoff from Los Angeles International Airport," the airline said. "The wheel has been recovered in Los Angeles, and we are investigating what caused this event."
Air traffic control audio indicated the wheel rolled across a runway and into a cargo area.
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But losing a wheel may not be entirely Boeing's fault. Rather, it may be United Airlines' maintenance issue, according to Mike Boyd, an aviation expert with Boyd Group International.
"Airplanes, airliners do lose tires. Tires fall apart. In this case, the wheel must have come with it," Boyd said.
He also believed Monday's incident may not have affected passengers' travel experience.
"If you're driving down the 405, and a wheel goes off, you're going to know it because you only have four of them, one at each corner," he explained. "But this airplane has 12 of them. Probably the customers did not even notice it."
The incident occurred after the U.S. Justice Department announced Boeing will plead guilty to criminal fraud relating to crashes of its 737 Max 8 jets in 2018 and 2019.
Seven months ago, the NTSB grounded Boeing 737 Max 9 jets with plug doors after a door came off the plane mid flight.
In March, a tire fell off a United Airlines plane as it departed from San Francisco International Airport and landed in a nearby parking lot. That plane was diverted to Los Angeles. No injuries were reported.
