A United Airlines Airbus A321neo arriving in Orlando over the weekend had a wild, video-captured landing that ended with the jet losing one of its nose wheels on the runway, temporarily halting operations at one of the nation’s busiest tourist airports and raising fresh questions about extreme-weather flying and landing-gear resilience.

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Rough Arrival At Orlando Triggers Ground Stop

The incident occurred on Sunday, January 18, 2026, involving United Airlines flight 2323 from Chicago O’Hare to Orlando International Airport. The Airbus A321neo, a two-year-old aircraft carrying around 200 passengers and six crew members, was completing its descent into central Florida amid intense wind gusts and heavy rain.

According to flight-tracking data and airline schedules, UA2323 departed Chicago shortly before 9 a.m. and touched down in Orlando just after 12:30 p.m. Local aviation enthusiasts captured the landing on video, which has since circulated widely on social media and aviation forums, showing the airliner bouncing and veering before a nose wheel appears to detach and roll away from the aircraft as it slows on the runway.

The mishap prompted airport authorities to issue a ground stop while emergency crews responded and the damaged aircraft was secured. Both north-south runways used by the flight were effectively shut, forcing inbound aircraft to hold and some departures to be delayed during one of Orlando’s peak leisure travel periods.

What The Video Shows Of The “Wild” Landing

Footage taken from across the airfield appears to show what begins as a relatively routine arrival quickly deteriorating into a highly unstable touchdown. The A321neo initially sets down on its left main landing gear, with the right gear following a split second later, a normal sequence during crosswind landings.

Moments after the first contact, however, the jet bounces, with the left main gear briefly lifting off again while the nose pitches down and the forward landing gear slams onto the wet runway. The aircraft then lurches to the right as weight shifts abruptly to the forward gear. In the key frames that have drawn attention from pilots and mechanics online, one of the two nose wheels can be seen rolling free to the right side of the runway as the jet continues decelerating on what appears to be a single remaining nose wheel.

Witnesses at the airport reported seeing smoke and debris near the nose gear as the plane came to a stop. Despite the violent motion, the aircraft remained upright and on the runway centerline, with no reports of fire or fuel leaks. For passengers on board, though, it was by all accounts a frightening end to an already turbulent approach.

Passengers Safe, But A Frightening Experience On Board

United Airlines said there were no injuries among the roughly 200 passengers and six crew members on flight 2323. After the aircraft came to a halt and emergency vehicles surrounded the jet, passengers remained on board until ground teams determined it was safe to begin deplaning on the runway, away from the terminal gates.

Several travelers later described a “very hard” landing, with one person posting that the aircraft “hit the runway, bounced and then slammed down again,” followed by a noticeable lurch forward. Others said they were aware something was wrong only when the aircraft stopped on the runway for an extended period and the captain announced that the nose gear had been damaged and they would be met by emergency services.

Photos shared by people at Orlando International appear to show the A321neo at rest with the nose slightly lower than normal and one wheel missing from the nose-gear assembly. Buses were used to transfer passengers back to the terminal, and United rebooked travelers whose onward connections were disrupted by the runway closure and the aircraft being taken out of service.

Extreme Winds And Weather Under Scrutiny

The landing took place during a powerful winter front that swept through central Florida on Sunday, bringing conditions more commonly associated with tropical systems. Weather observations at Orlando International around the time of the incident recorded wind gusts exceeding 50 miles per hour, while a nearby station at Orlando Executive Airport reported similar sustained gusts and rapidly shifting wind directions.

Residents across the metro area described brief but intense squall conditions, with strong gusts toppling outdoor furniture, knocking out power to some neighborhoods and prompting short-lived weather alerts. On local forums, Orlando-area pilots and aviation workers noted that the winds during the midday hours, when UA2323 arrived, were among the most severe they had seen outside of a named storm.

While commercial jetliners are certified to operate in strong crosswinds within defined limits, such conditions can dramatically complicate the final seconds of a landing, especially when combined with heavy rain, wind shear or sudden directional changes close to the ground. Investigators will now be looking at how the gusts aligned with the runway, the precise crosswind and tailwind components at touchdown, and whether rapidly changing wind vectors may have contributed to the aircraft’s bounce and subsequent loading of the nose gear.

Investigations Underway Into Nose Gear And Landing Technique

The Federal Aviation Administration has confirmed that it is aware of the incident and has begun a preliminary investigation, a routine step when significant aircraft damage occurs, even in the absence of injuries. The National Transportation Safety Board may also open a formal inquiry, particularly given the availability of clear video footage and the recent global focus on landing-gear reliability and runway excursions.

Key questions will center on whether the failure of the nose wheel was primarily the result of the hard, asymmetric touchdown, a preexisting mechanical or structural issue, or some combination of the two. Investigators will examine the recovered wheel, the nose-gear assembly, and related components such as axles, bearings and attachment hardware, along with maintenance logs for the aircraft.

Flight data and cockpit voice recorders will also play a crucial role. These devices should provide a detailed timeline of the aircraft’s airspeed, sink rate, pitch, roll and yaw angles, as well as the crew’s control inputs and any last-second adjustments during the flare and touchdown. Specialists will be looking closely at whether the nose was lowered prematurely, how much vertical and lateral load was placed on the gear, and whether crosswind technique and autobrake settings were appropriate for the prevailing conditions.

United’s Statement And Operational Impact

United Airlines has not released a highly detailed public statement, but the carrier has confirmed that flight 2323 experienced what it described as a “landing incident” in Orlando and that one of the nose wheels detached after touchdown. The airline emphasized that there were no injuries, that customers were safely transported to the terminal, and that it is cooperating fully with regulatory authorities.

The Airbus A321neo involved has been removed from service pending inspection and repair. Given the apparent stress on the nose gear and possible shock loads transmitted into the forward fuselage structure, it could be some time before the aircraft returns to the fleet, depending on what engineers find once panels are removed and detailed structural checks are completed.

For Orlando International Airport, the immediate impact was a period of operational disruption at the height of a busy Sunday travel window. With one runway blocked by the disabled jet and the parallel runway initially out of service as a precaution, arrivals were held or diverted and departures pushed back, rippling through schedules for much of the afternoon. Passengers reported long lines and delays, though by evening normal operations were largely restored as the aircraft was towed clear and inspections completed.

Pattern Of High-Profile Landing-Gear Incidents

The United event in Orlando comes amid heightened public attention on landing-gear incidents involving large commercial jets. In 2024, a United Boeing 777 departing San Francisco lost a main wheel shortly after takeoff, prompting an emergency return and a broad review of wheel and axle inspections across parts of the fleet. More recently, an Airbus A321neo operated by Frontier Airlines suffered a severe hard landing in San Juan in April 2025, losing a nose wheel and causing engine damage before safely returning for a second attempt.

While such events remain rare in the context of millions of annual flights, they resonate strongly with travelers and feed into broader conversations about maintenance practices, component design and the operational pressures airlines face in challenging weather environments. Aviation safety analysts point out that modern landing gear is built with redundant wheels and robust failure margins, precisely so that the loss of a single wheel does not automatically lead to a loss of control or collapse of the gear.

In the Orlando case, the A321neo was able to remain on its remaining nose wheel and main landing-gear bogies throughout the rollout, a testament, experts say, to the design tolerances built into the system. Nonetheless, the dramatic visuals of a wheel separating at speed on a wet runway are likely to keep the episode in the public eye until investigators publish a more complete account of what went wrong.

What Comes Next For Travelers And For United

For most passengers who were on board UA2323, the immediate aftermath will center on dealing with schedule disruptions, travel insurance claims and, for some, lingering anxiety about flying through storms. Airlines routinely offer support and counseling resources in the wake of frightening but injury-free events, and travel advisors often suggest that nervous fliers review the industry’s safety record to put such incidents in perspective.

United, meanwhile, faces the dual task of managing the operational fallout and engaging transparently with both regulators and the flying public. The carrier is likely to stress its ongoing investment in pilot training and simulator scenarios that include crosswind, wind-shear and hard-landing recovery, as well as its adherence to manufacturer and regulatory maintenance regimes for critical components such as wheels and landing gear.

As the investigation unfolds, attention will focus on whether the Orlando mishap points to isolated circumstances, such as an unusually severe gust at precisely the wrong moment, or whether it reveals opportunities to refine crosswind-landing policies, nose-gear inspection intervals, or procedures for handling unstable approaches in marginal weather. For now, what is clear is that the travelers aboard UA2323 experienced one of the most unnerving events in commercial aviation, and walked away because multiple layers of design, training and emergency response did what they were intended to do when a landing went badly wrong.