Wheel Falls Off Another Boeing 757 on Takeoff

motive56 / shutterstock.com
motive56 / shutterstock.com

United Flight 1001 was headed from LAX to Longmont, CO on Monday morning when a wheel fell off the plane right after takeoff. This is the latest in a string of mechanical failures on Boeing planes, but fortunately, it didn’t end in a catastrophe. The pilot was able to land the plane safely in Colorado.

The plane had just gotten off the ground when one of the main landing gear wheels fell off. The issue appears to be related to United’s ground crew for once, rather than Boeing itself. Still, it’s not reassuring for anyone who has to take a flight on a Boeing plane these days.

A Boeing 737’s engine caught on fire in March as it was flying over Texas. The plane was actually nosediving as the pilot struggled to turn it around and land at the airport where it had just taken off. That same day, a wheel fell off United Flight UA35 (also a Boeing plane) departing from San Francisco.

The day after that, a Boeing 737 slid off the runway at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston. On March 16, United Airlines Flight 433 took off from San Franciso and one of the side panels on the plane disintegrated in mid-air.

Other serious incidents have happened with Boeing planes this year as well, in Australia, New Zealand, and Japan. Every one of the planes in these incidents has been a passenger jet with more than 100 people on board. There’s been a lot of finger-pointing between Boeing and United so far, but no one is presenting much of a plausible explanation for these accidents.

It doesn’t help to reassure the public that the Boeing whistleblowers who’ve come forward have “committed suicide,” either. Here’s an incident from Heathrow on July 7: