United Airlines said a plane lost its landing gear during takeoff from Los Angeles but was able to land safely in Denver, its planned destination, without any injuries.
“The wheel was found in Los Angeles and we are investigating the cause of this incident,” United said in a statement on Monday. It was the airline’s second such incident this year.
The plane involved in Monday’s crash was a Boeing 757-200, which is about 30 years old, according to FlightRadar24 data, and was carrying 174 passengers and seven crew members. Boeing stopped production of the 757 in 2004.
In March, a United Airlines Boeing 777-200 bound for Japan lost a tire in mid-air after taking off from San Francisco and landed safely at Los Angeles International Airport.
The wheel landed on a car in the airport staff parking lot, breaking the car’s window, but no one was injured.
Monday’s incident was the latest in a string of incidents involving United Airlines planes. One plane was forced to make an emergency landing at Los Angeles International Airport in March due to a problem with its hydraulic system. Elsewhere that month, another flight was trying to land in Houston when it veered off the runway and landed on the grass.
Also in March, a plane carrying 167 passengers made an emergency landing in Houston after United Flight 1118, a Boeing 737-900 en route from Houston to Fort Myers, Florida, caught fire.
Aviation problems in the United States made headlines in January, after a door seal on an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9 exploded in mid-air shortly after takeoff from Portland, Oregon, forcing the plane to make an emergency landing. Several people were injured.
In April, United Airlines blamed a $200m (£161m) loss in profits in the first three months of the year on the incident, saying a mid-flight explosion on a rival Alaska Airlines plane forced it to ground several of its Boeing planes, contributing to the losses.
With Maya Young, Jack Simpson, Reuters, Associated Press
