British Airways Airbus A350 loses a wheel on take-off from Las Vegas, flies to London anyway
January 28, 2026
A British Airways Airbus A350 lost a wheel from its main landing gear during take-off from Las Vegas. The flight continued to London Heathrow and landed safely more than nine hours later.
The airline has said that it is investigating the cause of the detachment and will cooperate with the authorities to determine what might have gone wrong.
British Airways A350 loses a main wheel on take-off
On 26 January, British Airways flight BA274 was operating the airline’s regular daily service between Harry Reid International Airport (LAS) in Las Vegas heading to London Heathrow Airport (LHR), the airline’s primary operating base in the UK.
The flight was being operated by one of the carrier’s 18-strong fleet of Airbus A350-1000 aircraft with registration G-XWBN.
According to data from Flightradar24, BA274 left its gate E1 at Las Vegas at 20:45 local time for its 5,229-mile (8,365 km) flight back to London. Having taxied out to runway 26R for departure, the aircraft performed its full-length take-off roll and was airborne by 21:06.
With the aircraft established on its climb-out, the flight crew selected the gear to retract. It was at this point that an airport live stream captured the moment when a wheel detached from one of the aircraft’s main landing gear bogies.
The wheel detached approximately 40 seconds after the start of the take-off, with sparks visible as the wheel fell away.
The video of the incident clearly shows that as the main gear begins to retract, the wheel can be seen falling to the ground as the gear stows away and the main gear door closes.
According to reports, the crew were not immediately aware of the detachment and continued towards Heathrow as planned. The wheel fell within the airport perimeter, with no injuries or damage reported on the ground.
The A350-1000’s main landing gear consists of six wheels arranged in three pairs. The wheel lost by BA274 in Las Vegas was the rear-most, outside wheel on the right main landing gear.
British Airways A350 continued to Heathrow with a missing wheel
The aircraft continued to climb to its initial cruising altitude of 37,000ft and headed across the mainland United States to begin its oceanic crossing abeam St. John’s in Newfoundland.
Without further incident, the aircraft carried out a safe and uneventful landing at Heathrow at 14:23 on 27 January, after nine hours and 17 minutes in the air.
In a statement, British Airways confirmed the mishap and said that an investigation was already underway.
“British Airways flight BA274 lost one of its main landing gear wheels on departure from Las Vegas. Safety and security underpin everything we do, and we’re supporting the authorities with their investigations.”
In response to the incident, a spokesperson for Harry Reid Las Vegas International Airport said it was aware of an incident involving a British Airways aircraft that departed LAS and continued on to London, where it landed safely without further incident. The airport confirmed that the National Transport Safety Board (NTSB) has been advised.”
Why British Airways didn’t turn back to Las Vegas
In the event of such incidents, airlines and their flight crews only have a short time to decide whether to turn back, divert, or continue with the flight.
Even if the flight crew were aware that there was an issue with the landing gear, they would likely have elected to continue to Heathrow in any event. Turning around and heading back to Las Vegas (where the airline is unlikely to have the required engineering support or spares) would have presented a logistical challenge for the carrier.
This was the case when a Virgin Atlantic Airbus A340 suffered an undercarriage fault leaving Los Angeles in 1997, but continued to Heathrow as planned, making an emergency landing and suffering further minor damage as a result.
Picture of the BA A350 landing gear that old a wheel on departure from Las Vegas. This was such a DAUNTING EMERGENCY – as some clickbait accounts share – that the jet proceeded to its destination and landed without further incident. pic.twitter.com/HwCO89mbnV
— Air Safety #OTD by Francisco Cunha (@OnDisasters) January 28, 2026
Similarly, if the aircraft can continue en route safely without any threat to the aircraft or its passengers, British Airways would have preferred to have G-XWBN back at base, where it has full engineering support for its A350 fleet. It would also negate the need for a possible empty ferry flight further down the line.
For the passengers, returning the aircraft to Las Vegas would have resulted in a planeload of passengers requiring overnight accommodation and onward travel arrangements to get them back to the UK at a later date. It would have possibly also caused further flight disruption to other elements of the British Airways operation.
The Airbus A350 is just 2 years old
According to Planespotters.net, A350-1000 G-XWBN is 2.7 years old, having been delivered factory fresh to British Airways in June 2023. The aircraft is configured to accommodate 331 passengers in a three-class layout, including 56 seats in business class, 56 in premium economy, and 219 in economy class. It is powered by a pair of Rolls-Royce Trent XWB-97 engines.
At the time of writing, Flightradar24 shows that the aircraft remains on the ground at Heathrow, with no further flights scheduled for the time being.
Featured image: MKPhoto / stock.adobe.com
