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A plane lost one of its wheels just seconds after taking off from Italy en route to the US.

The Boeing 747-400 Dreamlifter was departing Taranto-Grottaglie Airport in southern Italy for Charleston, South Carolina, when one of its wheels shockingly dropped.

Video footage shows the cargo plane accelerating on the tarmac. About five seconds after it lifts off the ground, one of the 100kg wheels on its left side begins smoking and falls.

The wheel with a 4-foot diameter was later found at a vineyard outside of the boundaries of the airport, according to Simple Flying. The plane landed safely at its destination despite missing a part.

Boeing said it ‘will support our operator’s investigation’ into the incident.

‘A Dreamlifter cargo flight operated by Atlas Air landed safely earlier today at Charleston International Airport, after losing a wheel assembly from its landing gear on take-off from the Taranto-Grottaglie Airport in Italy this morning,’ Boeing told Simple Flying on Tuesday.

The plane was carrying a passenger Boeing 787 fuselage, the Italian media outlet Corriere della Sera reported.

National Agency for Flight Safety investigators looking into the incident will determine whether to launch a formal probe.

The Boeing 747-400 Dreamlifter has a 28-foot fuselage for transporting parts. Its first flight was in 2006 and it was put in service to carry goods between Italy, the US and Japan. It was also used during the coronavirus pandemic to transport medical supplies.

It is not the only incident of a wheel coming off an airplane.

In November 2011, people aboard a plane from Exeter to Newcastle in the UK witnessed a wheel break off as the landing gear retracted. Once a stewardess checked the landing gear, the captain began making an emergency landing.

The pilot asked the 39 passengers to move so the weight on the aircraft was evenly distributed, according to an Air Accidents Investigation Branch report. The captain made the landing by first bringing down the left wheels, then lowering the right wheel that was left. The plane veered to the left, and the pilot worked to hold it stead and applied the emergency brakes to bring it to a stop.

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