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By Hugh Cameron
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A United Airlines passenger jet lost a main gear wheel while taking off from Los Angeles on Monday, adding to the growing list of issues facing both the airline and the manufacturer this year.
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The Boeing aircraft was carrying 174 passengers and 7 crew when it took off from Los Angeles International Airport at around 7 a.m. on Monday.
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Shortly after takeoff, a landing-gear wheel came off the plane, landing on a car in an LAX employee parking space.
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The aircraft was a Boeing 757-200, and is nearly 30 years old, according to aircraft database Planespotters.net.
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Boeing discontinued production of the 757 in October 2004.
Newsweek has contacted Boeing to comment on the United Airlines incident.
Despite its wheel detaching, the plane was able to land on time in Denver International Airport, with no injuries reported.
"The wheel has been recovered in Los Angeles, and we are investigating what caused this event," United said in a statement following the mishap.
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This incident marks the latest in a series of problems reported with United Airlines' Boeing fleet this year, and is the second instance of a United Airlines-operated Boeing plane losing a wheel during takeoff.
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In March, one of its Boeing B777-200s lost a tire mid-flight after departing from San Francisco on its way to Japan.
Only a day later, a Boeing 737 MAX 8 suffered a landing gear collapse after trying to take off from George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, Texas.
In late May, a United flight from Chicago to Seattle had to abort takeoff, after an engine caught fire while picking up speed on the runway.
All 148 passengers, along with five crew members, were made to evacuate the plane.
Boeing, meanwhile, has been facing significant scrutiny since January, when the door plug on an Alaska Airlines 737 MAX 9 experienced a mid-flight blowout, leading to an emergency landing.
Since that incident, hundreds of Boeing employees have come forward to voice their concerns over the safety of the company's aircraft.
On Sunday night, Boeing agreed to plead guilty to one charge of fraud, having misled Federal Aviation Administration regulators into approving the 737 MAX plane that was involved in the 2018 and 2019 crashes which claimed 346 lives.
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