Wheel falls off Virgin plane

A wheel has fallen off a Virgin Blue plane while it was taxiing towards the runway in Melbourne.

The incident involved one of the budget carrier's 737 aircraft on Saturday.

Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association secretary Steve Purvinas called on the airline to conduct pre-flight safety checks before all flights.

"In this case, we were lucky that the failure occurred on the ground. The release of the wheel assembly in-flight could have seen a loss of aircraft," he said in a statement on Monday.

"Unless action is taken, future incidences could be much more serious."

Mr Purvinas said Virgin Blue did not undertake engineering safety checks before most flights.

Comment was being sought from the airline.

- AAP