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Curious why they flew all the way to LAX instead of just landing back at SFO? The wheel would have fallen off immediately after take off, before being retracted. Maybe they didn't know until someone found a wheel in/on their car?

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Correct, the pilots did not have any indication in the cockpit. ATC had to identify which plane the tire fell from, contact the plane, the plane had to talk to their company before deciding what to do.

To burn off fuel.

Planes are safer to land when they don't have tons of extra fuel.

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