Watch: Cargo aircraft plunges after its wheel falls off throughout takeoff

A wheel fell off an enormous Boeing Co. cargo jet and plunged to the bottom shortly after the plane took off from Taranto in southern Italy on Tuesday morning.

A video posted on Twitter confirmed a plume of black smoke all of a sudden spit out from the 747-400 Dreamlifter’s undercarriage and a wheel like an enormous bowling ball flying to the runway and bouncing away.

The plane, operated by Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings Inc., continued with its journey and landed safely about 11 hours later at a Boeing manufacturing facility in Charleston, South Carolina.

Un Boeing 747 Dreamlifter operat de Atlas Air (N718BA) care a decolat marți dimineață (11OCT22) din Taranto (IT) spre Charleston (SUA) a pierdut o roată a trenului principal de aterizare în timpul decolării.

Avionul operează zborul #5Y4231 și transportă componente de Dreamliner. pic.twitter.com/R95UHkLD7V

— BoardingPass (@BoardingPassRO) October 11, 2022

The footage of the takeoff made it essentially the most tracked flight on the planet, with greater than 10,000 customers following its journey, based on information from Flightradar24.

#5Y4231, the Dreamlifter with the lacking wheel, is descending into Charleston now. Important to notice that whereas suboptimal, the plane can land safely with out the wheel. https://t.co/QpORCsFLQd pic.twitter.com/2JWeyaYDN9

— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) October 11, 2022

The reason behind the incident isn’t but clear. A Boeing spokesperson mentioned the corporate will help Atlas Air’s investigation. Atlas Air wasn’t instantly obtainable to answer a request for remark.

The Dreamlifter is a modified model of the 747-400 and is especially used to move Boeing 787 components for the Arlington, Virginia-headquartered plane producer.

While barely smaller than the Airbus 380, the most important passenger jet in operation, it’s nonetheless among the many greatest specialist cargo planes on the planet.