Plane Loses Wheel During Takeoff

An Air Canada plane landed safely at Pearson International Airport in Toronto on Tuesday night after losing a wheel on its main landing gear.

The flight, an Airbus 319 according to ABC News, lost the wheel during takeoff from LaGuardia Airport in New York with 125 passengers and crew on board.

The flight continued on to Toronto, burning fuel along the way, before making its safe landing.

The plane “experienced an issue with one of its six tires on take-off,” Air Canada said in a statement.

ABC News said an Airbus 319 normally has two large wheels on each of the two main landing gears and two smaller wheels under the nose. One of the two wheels on the right-side main landing gear was missing when the plane touched down.

The good news is, the design worked exactly as it should have. Most airline jets have more than one wheel on the same side on its landing gear for just this purpose and are designed to withstand the weight of the plane if one falls off.