United Airlines flight loses wheel during takeoff in Los Angeles | United Airlines

A United Airlines jet lost a landing gear during takeoff from Los Angeles but was able to land safely and without injuries in Denver, its scheduled destination, the airline said.

“The bike was found in Los Angeles and we are currently investigating what caused this incident,” United said in a statement on Monday. It was the second such incident for the airline this year.

According to FlightRadar24, the plane involved in Monday’s incident was a nearly 30-year-old Boeing 757-200 carrying 174 passengers and seven crew members. Boeing stopped producing the 757 in 2004.

In March, a United Airlines Boeing 777-200 jet bound for Japan lost a tire in midair after takeoff from San Francisco, but landed safely at Los Angeles International Airport.

The bike landed on a car in the employee parking lot of an airport and a car window was broken, but no one was injured.

Monday’s incident was the latest in a series of incidents involving United Airlines planes. In March, a plane was forced to make an emergency landing at Los Angeles International Airport due to a problem with its hydraulic system. That same month, another flight was attempting to land in Houston when it skidded off the runway and crashed into the grass.

Also in March, a flight with 167 passengers on board was forced to make an emergency landing in Houston after bright flames erupted from the engine of United Flight 1118, a Boeing 737-900 en route from Houston to Fort Myers, Florida.

In January, problems in US air traffic made headlines when a door stopper on an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 9 was torn off in mid-air shortly after takeoff from Portland, Oregon, and the plane was forced to make an emergency landing. Several people were injured.

In April, the incident blamed a $200 million (£161 million) drop in profits for United Airlines in the first three months of the year. The airline said the in-flight tire failure on rival Alaska had forced the carrier to ground many of its Boeing planes, contributing to the losses.

With Maya Yang, Jack Simpson, Reuters and Associated Press