Why Are Wheels Falling Off Boeing Aircraft?

In 2024, multiple reports have emerged of Boeing aircraft bursting tires or ditching wheels mid-flight, exacerbating the intense scrutiny already placed on the aerospace giant regarding the safety of its planes.

On Monday, a 757-200 operated by United Airlines lost a wheel during takeoff, which then bounced off the runway before landing on a car in the the airport's employee parking lot.

Despite this, the flight was able to continue on from Los Angeles International to Denver Airport, where it landed on time and without any reported injuries.

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Two days later, an American Airlines 737-800 departing from Tampa to Phoenix was forced to abort its take-off, after a tire burst and began smoking on the runway.

United Airlines told Newsweek that no one was hurt in the incident, and that passengers were rebooked onto replacement after exiting the stalled plane.

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These alarming events raise further questions about the safety of Boeing's aircraft, which have drawn the ire of both aviation regulators and federal prosecutors since the January incident which saw a section of a Boeing 737's fuselage blow out mid-flight.

Why Do Wheels Fall Off of Planes?

It is difficult to determine who is responsible for tires bursting or wheels coming off of supposedly flight-ready aircraft.

Airplane tires are designed to carry loads of up to 60,000 pounds, according to Boeing's website, and are able to withstand intense air pressure and significant speeds without risk of bursting.

However, under- or overinflation can shorten the lifespan of a plane tire, according to German aerospace engineering services provider HYDRO Systems.

Poorly maintained or manufactured landing gear can also risk components coming off of planes mid-flight.

Professor Graham Braithwaite, director of transport systems at Cranfield University, told Newsweek that the incident on Monday could have been the fault of poor maintenance by the airline, a third-party maintenance organization, or the component manufacturer itself.

What Happens if a Plane Loses a Wheel?

The Federal Aviation Administration, which investigates instances such as tires falling off moving airplanes, said that these cases carry minimal risk for those onboard.

"Airliners have multiple landing gear tires and can land safely if one or more are damaged or missing," the FAA told Newsweek. "The captain is responsible for determining how to respond to these incidents."

The Boeing 757-200, the aircraft involved in the Monday incident, has a total of ten tires, four on each of the two main landing gears and two at the nose.

However, while those in the sky may be able to make an emergency landing or continue on their journey, there is the issue of a wheel being launched from a fast-moving plane onto the ground below.

"A wheel is heavy and, when it comes off at speed, would be deadly if it hit anyone," Professor Braithwaite told Newsweek.

While Braithwaite added that the area around a runway mitigates some of the risk to those on the ground, the main gear wheel which came off the 757-200 on Monday bounced all the way to the LAX employee parking lot, crushing one of the cars.

How Often Does This Happen?

While rare, tires coming off Boeing aircraft has been a near-monthly occurrence in 2024.

On June 3, a tire blew out on Southwest Airlines Flight 225, forcing the pilots to reroute the Boeing 737-800 and land back at Denver International.

On April 21, a FlySafair Boeing 737 flying from Johannesburg to Cape Town made an emergency landing, after one of its wheels burst during takeoff.

Ground staff noticed the missing wheel, and the pilot was then ordered to return to the runway.

In early March, a Boeing 777 bound for Japan was rerouted to Los Angeles after taking off from San Francisco, when one of the tires on its rear landing gear fell from the plane after takeoff.

The tire which fell from the plane landed in the employee parking lot of San Francisco Airport, crushing a Toyota Corolla.

One 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.

The FAA told Newsweek that it is still investigating the cause of the March incident.

Only a few weeks after the infamous Alaska Airlines door-blowout on January 5, the nose wheel of a Delta Airlines-operated Boeing 757 detached and rolled down the runway as the aircraft was taxiing.

Is Boeing To Blame?

Boeing told Newsweek that these issues were a matter of maintenance and that the responsibility for wheels falling off of planes lay with the airline and not the manufacturer.

Similarly, according to website of the FAA, "the owner/operator is primarily responsible for maintaining the aircraft in an airworthy condition."

Boeing therefore takes little responsibility for planes once they exit the factory door.

The aircraft involved in Monday's incident was a Boeing 757-200, and is nearly 30 years old, according to aircraft database Planespotters.net.

Professor Braithwaite also told Newsweek that Boeing's landing gear is often built by subcontractors.

For example, the main and nose landing gears for the Boeing 787 Dreamliner are designed and integrated by Safran Landing Systems.

Nor is Boeing alone when it comes to tires falling off of airplanes.

In February, a LATAM Airlines aircraft manufactured by Boeing's European rival Airbus was forced to land with a wheel missing at Guarulhos International Airport in Sao Paolo.

The jettisoned tire was found 200 miles away, according to aviation news website AeroTime.

In 2020, similarly, a main tire fell off an Air Canada Airbus A319 jet seconds after it took off from New York's LaGuardia Airport.

Boeing, along with Airbus, also dominates the passenger jet market in the U.S., meaning it may suffer from over-represented when it comes to aircraft calamities of any kind.

Boeing's planes, primarily its 737, make up just over half of American Airlines current fleet of planes, and over 80 percent of United Airlines', according to Planespotters.net.

It is therefore likely that, when wheels do happen to fly off of planes, those planes will end up being Boeing's.

However, the hundreds of concerns that have already been voiced regarding the safety of Boeing aircraft, as well as the publicity that has come with its criminal fraud case, mean that Boeing will continue to enjoy the spotlight next time a wheel falls off one of its flight-ready planes.

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