SAHARA REPORTERS
A United Airlines Boeing 757-200 lost a wheel just after takeoff on Monday morning, mirroring a similar incident in March.
According to United, Flight 1001 was headed from Los Angeles International Airport to Denver when the wheel came loose at around 7 a.m.
The plane landed safely in Denver three hours after the incident, and none of the 174 passengers or seven crew members were hurt.
According to a United Airlines representative, the missing wheel was later found in Los Angeles, and an investigation into the incident’s cause is underway. It is currently unknown if the detached wheel caused any damage on the ground.
In a eerily similar incident, a Boeing 777-200 bound for Osaka, Japan, experienced a wheel separation immediately after takeoff from San Francisco in March. Fortunately, the flight carrying 249 passengers was diverted to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) and landed safely, with no injuries reported.
However, the detached wheel caused significant damage to several vehicles in an airport parking lot. This recent incident bears a striking resemblance to the March event.
In May, no fewer than 12 people sustained injuries after a Qatar Airways flight from Doha to Dublin was hit by turbulence while flying over Turkey, according to Dublin airport authorities.
At least six passengers and six crew members were injured on the flight even though the flight landed safely as scheduled at 1 pm (12:00GMT).
The authorities said eight passengers were taken to hospital in Dublin following assessment after they disembarked.
In a statement, Qatar Airways confirmed that the flight, a Boeing B787-9 from Doha to Dublin, landed safely.
The incident happened less than a week after a Singapore Airlines flight from London was hit by severe turbulence. It claimed the life of one person while more than 30 others were injured.
The Singapore-bound Boeing 777-300ER was diverted to Bangkok and landed at 15:45 local (08:00 GMT).
The airline said in a statement that the flight SQ 321 was carrying a total of 211 passengers and 18 crew.
On May 9, a Boeing 737-85R belonging to Corendon Airlines tagged XC1031 suffered a nose landing gear failure after landing on runway 08 at Gazipasa Airport (GZP) in Turkey.
This was disclosed by the Aviation Safety Network (ASN) in a post shared on X, stating that the flight moved from Bonn-Konrad Adenauer Airport to Gazipasa-Alanya Airport.
ASN described the damage as substantial but stated that no fatality was recorded from the incident.
SaharaReporters also in May reported that 10 people were injured when a Boeing 737 plane carrying 85 people skidded off a runway at the airport in Dakar, Senegal’s capital on Wednesday, May 8, 2024.
The country’s transport minister, Malick Ndiaye revealed that the affected aircraft was an Air Sénégal flight operated by TransAir.
He said the plane was headed to Bamako with 79 passengers, two pilots and four cabin crew members.
Boeing’s reputation has been severely tarnished by years of scrutiny, including congressional investigations, lawsuits, and whistleblower allegations, which have accused the company of prioritizing profits over safety protocols.
Recently, Boeing pleaded guilty to criminal fraud related to the fatal crashes of two 737 MAX jets, accepting a deal from federal prosecutors that allowed them to avoid trial on a felony charge of conspiring to defraud the United States. This outcome has further damaged the company’s already beleaguered reputation.
THIS STORY FIRST APPEARED IN SAHARA REPORTERS
