The dramatic moment a tyre fell hundreds of feet from the undercarage of a United Airlines Boeing 777 has been captured on camera and was streamed live to thousands of people.
The incident happened as United Flight 35 was departing San Francisco Airport bound for Osaka, Japan.
“At approximately 11:35 a.m. (local time), United Flight 35 departing to Osaka lost a portion of landing gear tyre during takeoff,” a United representative said.
The tyre debris landed in one of the airport’s parking lots, luckily no one on the ground was injured.
The aircraft was still in the air and was diverting to Los Angeles when the airline released a statement about the incident.
“Once the flight lands in Los Angeles we will arrange a new aircraft to continue this trip for our customers.”
United said the flight had a total 249 people onboard. Made up of 235 passengers, 10 flight attendants and four pilots.
“The 777-200 has six tyres on each of its two main landing gear struts,” the airline said.
It said the aircraft “is designed to land safely with missing or damaged tires.”
Video of Flight 35 departing shows the plane losing one of the six tires on its left-side main landing gear assembly seconds after takeoff.
An air traffic control recording of the incident suggests the runway was closed for some time as officials searched for potential hazards and to locate the falling tyre.
The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating.
