The separation of the right rear wheel from the A350-1000 aircraft was also captured on the flight tracker’s automated live stream at Las Vegas airport.
British Airways confirmed that no one was injured, either on board the aircraft or on the ground in Las Vegas.
The Airbus A350-1000 main landing gear features six wheels on each flank, arranged in three pairs.
The one lost on flight BA274 was on the outside rear of the right-hand landing gear.
Because all the other wheels were in place, the plane was able to make a safe landing without damaging the fuselage.
When the entire landing gear fails, planes perform “belly landings” where the underside of the fuselage touches down on the runway.
Pilots often stay in the air for hours to burn as much fuel as possible to reduce the risk of fire caused by sparks on the tarmac.
Airbus facing increased scrutiny
The British Airways incident was the latest to draw attention to the European aircraft manufacturer Airbus, which has faced increased scrutiny over a series of technical and quality-related problems affecting parts of its fleet.
Last month, Airbus said an unspecified number of its aircraft would undergo inspections following the discovery of a “supplier quality issue” involving metal panels used on some planes.
It said as many as 600 planes could be checked, although not all were expected to require repairs.
According to the manufacturer, the issue was traced to panels located at the front of the aircraft that were found, in some cases, to be either too thick or too thin. Airbus stressed that the defect did not pose a flight safety risk.
The number of jets that needed inspections for quality problems included 168 planes that were already in service.
Days before, more than 6000 Airbus aircraft had been grounded globally for emergency software updates in a major industry disruption.
The problem was linked to a vulnerability in flight-control computers that could be triggered by intense solar radiation.
The problem was discovered after an aircraft flying between the US and Mexico experienced a sudden loss of altitude, injuring 15 passengers.
That grounding led to widespread cancellations and delays during one of the busiest travel periods of the year, coinciding with Thanksgiving in the US. Airbus shares dropped by more than 6.5% in the days following the incident.
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