A plane from Italy enroute the US lost one of its wheels just seconds after taking off.
The Boeing 747-400 Dreamlifter was departing Taranto-Grottaglie Airport in southern Italy for Charleston, South Carolina, when one of its wheels shockingly fell off.
Video footage shows the cargo plane accelerating on the tarmac. About five seconds after it lifts off the ground, one of the 100kg wheels on its left side begins smoking and falls.
The wheel with a 4-foot diameter was later found at a vineyard outside of the boundaries of the airport, according to Simple Flying. The plane landed safely at its destination despite missing a part.
Boeing said it ‘will support our operator’s investigation’ into the incident.
‘A Dreamlifter cargo flight operated by Atlas Air landed safely earlier today at Charleston International Airport, after losing a wheel assembly from its landing gear on take-off from the Taranto-Grottaglie Airport in Italy this morning,’ Boeing told Simple Flying on Tuesday.
The plane was carrying a passenger Boeing 787 fuselage, the Italian media outlet Corriere della Sera reported.
National Agency for Flight Safety investigators looking into the incident will determine whether to launch a formal probe.
This is not the only incident of a wheel coming off an airplane.
In November 2011, people aboard a plane from Exeter to Newcastle in the UK witnessed a wheel break off as the landing gear retracted. Once a stewardess checked the landing gear, the captain began making an emergency landing.