A new incident of technical failure on a Boeing aircraft occurred a few days ago, adding to the long list of problems that occurred in 2024, fortunately with no injuries or other adventures.
A Boeing 737 aircraft in South Africa lost its wheel shortly after takeoff, resulting in an emergency landing.
Security staff at Johannesburg International Airport noticed that the FlySafair aircraft had suffered a landing gear failure during take-off on Saturday 21 April.
After being ordered to return, the pilots made a low pass over the runway for engineers to inspect the damage.
They found that one of the four rear wheels had been damaged on takeoff and ordered the aircraft to land. Video of the landing shows the wheel coming apart as the plane attempted to taxi down the runway.
Seconds later a crack was heard and parts of the wheel flew off as the landing gear crashed, causing the aircraft to turn into the left wing.
None of the passengers were injured, who eventually flew to their destination on another flight.
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The incident, as the Daily Mail notes, comes amid turmoil for the airline since whistleblower Sam Salhpur’s testimony before Congress last week. The company’s engineer accused the company of “playing Russian roulette” with people’s lives.
It had begun in the very early days of the year with the loss of a door plug on a flight in January, which almost proved fatal for passengers. This was followed in March by the loss of a wheel on a United Airlines flight from San Francisco in March and others on a smaller scale.
The company says claims about the structural integrity of the Boeing 787s are false.
