Caught On Camera: Wheel Falls Off British Airways Airbus A350 During Takeoff In Las Vegas

A British Airways Airbus A350-1000 lost a main landing gear wheel during takeoff from Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas. The jet was headed to London Heathrow and was not diverted despite the missing wheel. The incident was caught on camera thanks to a 24-7 live feed of Las Vegas Airport operated by Flightradar24. Let's look at the details of this incident for According to tracking data from Flightradar24, the widebody aircraft registered G-XWBN did not operate for several days after the January 26th incident. As noted in the introduction, the BA A350-1000 was operating flight BA274 from Las Vegas to London when a wheel from the aircraft's main landing gear detached. This occurred just seconds after takeoff, and video footage captured the moment the wheel fell off as the main landing gear was being retracted. Again, this is footage from Flightradar24's live YouTube feed at Las Vegas Airport. And again, rather than divert back to Las Vegas or another nearby airport, the jet continued on to its home at Heathrow. The A350-1000 is equipped with 14 wheels in total, a two-wheel nose landing gear and two six-wheel main landing gear bogies, one on each side, for a total of 12 main wheels. This six-wheel main gear configuration is one of the key features that distinguishes the Dash 1000 from its smaller sibling, the Dash 900, which uses four-wheel main bogies. According to CH Aviation, G-XWBN is a nearly three-year-old A350-1000 capable of accommodating a total of 331 passengers in a three-class cabin layout. As of November 30, 2025, the jet had accumulated 12,167 flight hours across 1,369 flight cycles. As with all A350-1000s, it's powered by two Rolls-Royce Trent XWB-97 engines. The British flag carrier currently operates 18 of these A350-1000s, with an average fleet age of four and a half years. Although rare, incidents like this do occur from time to time. A similar event took place in 2024 when a United Airlines Boeing 777-200ER lost a tire during takeoff from San Francisco International. The aircraft, which had been scheduled to fly to Osaka, Japan, diverted to Los Angeles International Airport shortly after the wheel's separation and landed there safely. However, the detached tire caused significant damage on the ground, destroying an airport worker's car. On this note, at the time of making this video, we don't know if the wheel from the British Airways A350 caused any damage. From the aircraft's flight path, we can see that it would have overflown a golf course, followed by what looks to be an industrial area. What do you think of this incident? Would it appear to be an obvious maintenance issue, or is there something else to consider? Let us know by leaving a comment.