The Boeing 777 plane was able to make a safe emergency landing.
ADVERTISEMENTA United Airlines jetliner bound for Japan made an emergency landing in Los Angeles on Thursday after losing a tyre while taking off from San Francisco.
Video shows the plane losing one of the six tyres on its left-side main landing gear assembly seconds after leaving the ground.
The tyre landed in an employee parking lot at San Francisco International Airport, where it smashed into a car and shattered its back window before breaking through a fence and coming to stop.
The flight was carrying 235 passengers and a crew of 14. No injuries were reported.
Fire engines stood by at Los Angeles International Airport but weren't needed, as the Boeing 777 made a safe landing and stopped about two-thirds of the way down a runway.
The plane was then towed away.
Boeing 777s have six tyres on each of the two main landing gears. United said the plane, built in 2002, was designed to land safely with missing or damaged tyres.
Aviation experts said planes losing tires is a rare occurrence and not indicative of a larger safety issue, or a problem created by the manufacturer.
The Federal Aviation Administration is due to investigate the incident.