Watch as tire falls off United Airlines plane after takeoff, damages cars in parking lot

Kathleen Wong, USA TODAY
Updated ·2 min read

A United Airlines flight departing from San Francisco International Airport was diverted after takeoff Thursday due to a tire that fell off and crashed into a parking lot, damaging several cars.

UA 35 had just taken off shortly before 11 a.m. PST and was headed to Osaka, Japan when one of its six landing gear tires fell off. The Boeing 777-200 then diverted to Los Angeles International Airport at 1:39 p.m, according to FlightAware.

The runway was momentarily closed for crews to clear any debris from the incident, according to NBC Bay Area. No injuries were reported.

A new aircraft is scheduled to resume the 249 passengers' journey to Osaka Thursday night, a United Airlines spokesperson told USA TODAY in an email.

"We’re grateful to our pilots and flight attendants for their professionalism in managing this situation," said the airline. "We’re also grateful to our teams on the ground who were waiting with a tug to move the aircraft soon after it landed and to our teams in the airport who assisted customers upon their arrival."

The Boeing 777-200 is designed to land safely with missing or damaged tires, said United.

The airline also said it will work with the customers and owners of the damaged vehicles "to ensure their needs are addressed."

Worried if your plane is safe? Here's what to look for

A plane losing a tire is a "rare" incident, according to aviation expert David Evans, who is also an FAA-certificated airline transport pilot and flight instructor. "From time to time, this sort of thing does happen but it's usually uneventful at the end of the day," he told USA TODAY.

Evans said the airline did "the right thing" by diverting to the nearest airport to make sure "it's not something more serious" before a long overseas flight.

He stressed that "no one was in danger" by the lost tire and "pilots are trained for this exact sort of thing."

Kathleen Wong is a travel reporter for USA TODAY based in Hawaii. You can reach her at kwong@usatoday.com.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: United Airlines flight loses tire after takeoff in 'rare' incident