(Los Angeles) A Boeing plane lost a tire during takeoff at Los Angeles airport on Monday, a new embarrassing episode for the American aircraft manufacturer which has been racking up setbacks and technical failures.
The American company United Airlines, which operated the aircraft, confirmed this incident in a statement.
“The wheel was recovered in Los Angeles, and we are investigating the cause of this event,” she announced.
The plane, a Boeing 757-200, was carrying 174 passengers and seven crew members and was bound for Denver, Colorado.
He managed to land without damage despite the missing wheel, 25 minutes late.
The aircraft was delivered to the company 30 years ago, in 1994, according to a Boeing spokesperson.
The aircraft manufacturer has stopped production of the 757-200 model since 2004.
The incident prompted a new investigation by the US aviation regulator (FAA).
It comes as Boeing has been grappling with a series of production and quality problems for months that have damaged its reputation.
The company is under close surveillance after an incident on January 5 proved to be the last straw: a door on an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 9 came loose in mid-flight.
The FAA has just requested on Monday the “immediate” inspection of more than 2600 aircraft of the 737 family in the United States, for a problem with the attachment of the oxygen generators.
In difficulty, the aircraft manufacturer presented a “complete plan” at the end of May to return to quality.
He also just reached an agreement with the US Department of Justice to avoid an embarrassing trial in the case linked to the crash of two 737 MAX 8s in 2018 and 2019, which left 346 dead.
Boeing had already signed a plea agreement in 2021, paying $2.5 billion to avoid criminal prosecution of its executives.
But the Justice Department said he had violated the commitments contained in the agreement, which required him to improve his compliance and ethics program.
The new agreement reached Sunday provides for an additional fine of $243.6 million and a minimum investment of $455 million in “compliance and security programs.”