Wheel Falls Off Plane As It Lands In Buffalo

May 16, 2009 5:24 p.m. EST

Buffalo, NY (AHN) - A landing gear wheel fell off a Colgan Airlines passenger plane as the craft came in for a landing at Buffalo Niagara International Airport earlier this week.

The wheel came off a Q400 Bombardier, the same type of plane that crashed three months ago killing 49 passengers and crewmembers, also while approaching the airport in Buffalo, N.Y. That crash also killed one person on the ground.

A video of the wheel falling off was posted on the Toronto Sun's Web site Thursday. The video shows the wheel coming off the plane as it touched down. The plane was towed to the gate and all 73 passengers got off safely, a spokesman of Colgan's parent company, Pinnacle Airlines told CNN.

An FAA spokesman told the Sun that a hydraulic line leading to a main gear was severed and a part of a hub assembly of the landing gear was missing. The spokesman called the incident a "straight accident where a tire came off an aircraft."

John Arnone, a Bombardier spokesman, told the Sun that the parts were being sent back to the manufacturer to determine what happened.