Another Boeing aircraft has lost a part mid-air, in the latest of a series of catastrophic and deadly incidents that have seen the aviation giant accused of rushing safety checks and defrauding the US.
This time it was a Boeing 757-200 United Airlines flight from Los Angeles (LAX) to Denver, carrying 174 passengers and 7 crew that dropped a clanger, in the form of a main gear wheel that fell from the craft shortly after take-off at around 7 am local time on Monday 8 July 2024. No one was reported hurt in the incident.
#UnitedAirlines 757 loses a wheel during takeoff from #LosAngeles International Airport. United Airlines Flight 1001 continued to #DenverAirport where it landed safely. pic.twitter.com/dPVQZcHM0e
— Ian Collins (@Ian_Collins_03) July 9, 2024
Squashed cars and litany of disaster
Recalling a previous mid-air failure in March – again involving a Boeing B777-200 that that dropped a wheel on a San Francisco car park – the landing gear landed on a stationary car in an LAX employee parking spot. “The wheel has been recovered in Los Angeles, and we are investigating what caused this event,” United said in a statement following the mishap.
The Boeing 757-200 involved is nearly 30 years old according to flight tracking sites Planespotters.net. and FlightRadar24. It landed safely and on time in Denver despite the lack of one of its wheels, making this one of the less notable safety incidents in the litany of Boeing disasters in recent years and months.
Those include engine fires, plug doors blowing out and landing gear collapses. On top of that, Boeing is still dealing with the fallout from the two fatal crashes involving its 737 MAX in 2018 and 2019, as well as multiple whistleblower charges of malpractice and skipped safety checks.
No immunity to any individuals
Amid FBI investigations and plummeting orders, and in an attempt to turn a reputational corner, the manufacturer has this week accepted it is guilty on one charge of misleading the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) when it applied for approval of the 737 MAX. As a result it will pay up to $487 million in fines but avoid a $24.8 billion payout to families of crash victims, who have voiced opposition to the plea bargain.
While Boeing will hope the settlement will be a first step towards putting this crisis behind it, the US Department of Justice (DOJ), in a statement on the deal, warned that individuals could still be held responsible for Boeing’s failings.
“DOJ is resolving only with the company — and providing no immunity to any individual employees, including corporate executives, for any conduct,” it said, emphasising, “DOJ is resolving with Boeing only for misconduct that predated the 737 Max crashes — and not providing immunity for any other corporate conduct, including the Alaska Airlines 1282 [door plug] incident.”
