Terrifying moment wheel falls off United airplane taking off from San Francisco airport and crushes cars parked below

A 256lb wheel fell from a United Airlines plane shortly after take-off in San Francisco  and crushed cars parked below as it plummeted to the ground. 

The United Airlines flight 35 left San Francisco Airport on its way to Osaka in Japan and was barely off the runway with the Boeing 777-200's wheel came off.

The plane with 235 passengers and 14 crew diverted to Los Angeles Airport after it was alerted to the landing gear failure at 11.35am on Thursday.

The incident is the latest in a string of bad press for Boeing, which has made headlines in recent weeks for issues with planes - including an engine exploring on a flight out of Texas and a door blowing out of a flight mid-air above Oregon. 

The United Airlines flight 35 left San Francisco Airport on its way to Osaka in Japan and was barely off the runway with the Boeing 777-200's wheel came off

 A 256lb wheel has fallen from an airliner as it took off, crushing cars where it landed after plummeting to the ground

In the latest San Francisco incident, several vehicles in the employee car parking lot  were badly damaged by the falling wheel that also mangled a fence.

The plane landed safely at LAX about 1.20pm with no further incident and no injuries reported on the ground.

'The 777-200 has six tires on each of its two main landing gear struts. The aircraft is designed to land safely with missing or damaged tires,' United said. 

A new plane was scrambled to take the passengers to Japan from LAX. 

The falling wheel was the latest mishap for a Boeing plane after repeated problems with its troubled 737 Max 8.

The National Transportation Safety Board said on Thursday it was probing a United Airlines flight last month that had 'stuck' rudder pedals during the landing rollout.

Several vehicles in the employee car park were badly damaged by the falling wheel that also mangled a fence

Cars written off by the falling wheel are now nothing more than twisted metal

The plane landed safely at LAX about 1.20pm with no further incident and no injuries reported on the ground

A preliminary report on the February 6 flight found the plane taxied to the gate at Newark Airport without incident and there were no injuries to the 161 passengers and crew.

Just a day earlier, one of the engines on another United Airlines 737 burst into flames mid-flight in a terrifying fireball.

The flight from Houston to Fort Meyers, Florida, was forced to turn around after just 15 minutes. No one was injured,  

The cause of the explosion is not yet known but is being investigated by the Federal Aviation Administration.

The model of plane in the Houston incident was a Boeing 737-900, a similar jet to the Max fleet which was grounded in January after an exit door blew out during an Alaska Airlines flight over Oregon.

The FAA on Monday said its six-week audit of Boeing and Spirit AeroSystems found 'multiple instances where the companies allegedly failed to comply with manufacturing quality control requirements'.

One of the engines on another United Airlines 737 in Texas burst into flames mid-flight in a terrifying fireball earlier this week

Bolts appear to be missing from the door plug that blew out of a Boeing 737 MAX during an Alaska Airlines flight on January 5

'The FAA identified non-compliance issues in Boeing’s manufacturing process control, parts handling and storage, and product control,' it said.

'The FAA is providing these details to the public as an update to the agency’s ongoing investigation.' 

The administration announced it would continue to ground Boeing's 171 jets and had halted production expansion of the Boeing 737 MAX.

The news was a blow to the aircraft manufacturer, which saw its market value plummet by $30 billion in the wake of the disaster.

Boeing's share price also plunged by 20 percent in the month following the blowout.

The manufacturer also faces the threat of legal action, including from passengers who say they have been traumatized by their experience aboard the Alaska Airlines flight.