Tyre falls off United Airlines plane after San Francisco takeoff, damages cars in parking lot

A UNITED Airlines flight departing from San Francisco International Airport was diverted after takeoff on Thursday due to a tyre that fell off and crashed into a parking lot, damaging several cars.

UA 35 had just taken off shortly before 11 am PST and was headed to Osaka, Japan when one of its six landing gear tyres fell off. The Boeing 777-200 then diverted to Los Angeles International Airport at 1:39 pm, according to FlightAware.

The runway was momentarily closed for crews to clear any debris from the incident, according to NBC Bay Area. No injuries were reported.

"We’re grateful to our pilots and flight attendants for their professionalism in managing this situation," said the airline. "We’re also grateful to our teams on the ground who were waiting with a tug to move the aircraft soon after it landed and to our teams in the airport who assisted customers upon their arrival."

The Boeing 777-200 is designed to land safely with missing or damaged tyres, said United.

The airline also said it will work with the customers and owners of the damaged vehicles "to ensure their needs are addressed."

A plane losing a tyre is a "rare" incident, according to aviation expert David Evans, who is also an FAA-certificated airline transport pilot and flight instructor. "From time to time, this sort of thing does happen but it's usually uneventful at the end of the day," he told USA TODAY.

Evans said the airline did "the right thing" by diverting to the nearest airport to make sure "it's not something more serious" before a long overseas flight.

He stressed that "no one was in danger" by the lost tyre and that "pilots are trained for this exact sort of thing."