United Airlines flight loses a wheel during takeoff from Los Angeles

It is the latest in a long series of mechanical issues and safety glitches for both United and Boeing

A United Airlines flight landed safely in Denver after one of its wheels fell off during takeoff in California on Monday morning.

The Boeing 757-200 aircraft was departing from Los Angeles International Airport just after 7.15am with 147 passengers and 7 crew aboard when it shed a wheel, according to a spokesperson for United.

They added that there were no reported injuries either on the aircraft or on the ground and that the airline is now investigating what caused the incident.

This is the second time that a Boeing aircraft operated by United has lost a wheel or tire during flight this year, and the latest in a long line of mechanical issues and safety glitches for both companies.

In March, a United flight was forced to make an emergency landing after at tire fell off mid-flight while taking off from San Francisco, hurting no one but damaging several parked cars.

The airline is currently under heightened scrutiny from the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) due to various recent incidents, ranging from an engine fire to stuck rudder pedals.

In one case, a United Boeing 737 Max 8 had to be evacuated after tilting to one side and rolling off the runway into the grass while taxiing. In another, a Boeing 752-200 suffered wing damage in mid-air, potentially due to missing bolts.

Meanwhile, court documents made public on Sunday showed that Boeing has agreed to plead guilty to fraud in order to avoid a criminal trial over two fatal crashes in 2018 and 2019 that killed a total of 346 people.

The American aerospace giant is accused of deceiving regulators who approved its controversial and troubled 737 MAX plane and its pilot training requirements, and will reportedly pay $234m to resolve the probe.

Critics, union officials, and former employees told The Independent that successive corporate leaders had badly degraded the quality of Boeing’s aircraft through a 20-year regime of cost-cutting and cover-ups.