Boeing 757 plane loses wheel while preparing to take off

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said on January 24 that the front wheel of a Delta Airlines Boeing 757 passenger plane came off and rolled away as the plane was preparing to take off at Atlanta International Airport, Georgia, USA.

A Delta Airlines Boeing 757. (Photo: Washington Post)

The incident happened on January 20, Delta flight 982 carrying 190 people was waiting in line at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta, preparing to take off to Bogota, Colombia.

"A wheel on the front landing gear detached and rolled onto a nearby embankment," the FAA said.

The 184 passengers and 6 crew members on board were uninjured in the incident. Passengers were placed on another flight to continue their journey.

Delta Airlines apologized to customers, while Boeing has not commented.

The incident comes as US federal regulators have stepped up scrutiny of aircraft manufacturer Boeing after a two-month-old Boeing 737 MAX 9 operated by Alaska Airlines suffered a mid-air door failure, forcing the plane to make an emergency landing with a large hole.

No one was seriously injured in the incident, but the FAA has grounded 171 MAX 9s for safety inspections.

Alaska Airlines said that through inspections after the dangerous incident, technical staff discovered that many of its 737 MAX 9 aircraft had loose bolts. Alaska Airlines expressed disappointment and frustration over the problem and asked Boeing to improve production quality.

The US Federal Aviation Administration has issued a recommendation that airlines operating Boeing 737-900ER jets inspect door seals to ensure they are properly secured.

The 737-900ER is not part of the 737 MAX family, but shares the same door seal design. Some airlines have inspected the door seals on the 737-900ER during maintenance and found “issues with screws.”

Hoa Vu (Source: Reuters)

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