United Airlines plane loses wheel after hard landing at Orlando airport

The front wheel of a United Airlines flight detached during a hard landing at Orlando’s main airport at the weekend.

The incident occurred when United flight 2323 arrived in Florida after a routine two-hour journey from Chicago O’Hare airport on Sunday morning, 18 January.

A video that has gone viral on X (formerly Twitter) shows the plane’s rear wheels touching down first, followed by the front landing gear.

One of the wheels on the front landing gear appears to break off on impact with the asphalt and rolls away onto a grassy bank.

United Airlines told The Independent that the incident can be attributed to a “mechanical issue upon landing”.

The airline added that passengers were bussed to the terminal while United Airlines staff worked to remove the aircraft from the runway. No injuries were reported.

In a preliminary statement, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said: “The aircraft became disabled after making a hard landing.”

A brief ground stop was issued at Orlando after the plane lost its wheel, but it was lifted shortly after.

The Greater Orlando Aviation Authority, which operates Orlando International airport, said there were delays while the aircraft was being removed.

The FAA added that an investigation into the incident will take place.

The damage to the United Airlines plane comes weeks after a Boeing 767 jet blew out its tyres while landing at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta airport on Tuesday, 6 January.

The plane, belonging to Peruvian national airline Latam, blew out all of its rear landing gear tyres upon landing.

Eight of the plane’s 10 tyres were believed to have burst or melted.

Footage from the runway shows passengers rushing off the jet while mechanics worked on the tyres.

Passengers later reported that the jet appeared to have a hard landing, which caused overhead bins to tumble open and even pulled a bathroom door off its hinges.

Read more: Boeing 767’s tyres blow out and melt upon landing in Atlanta terrifying passengers and causing delays