---
title: "Piece of Boeing 777 Falls More Than a Mile, Lands on Moving Car in Japan"
description: "We think we saw this in a Farmer's Insurance commercial once."
date: "2017-09-25"
modified: "2017-09-25"
authors:
  - name: "Kyle Cheromcha"
    job_title: "Editor-in-Chief"
    link: "https://www.thedrive.com/authors/kyle-cheromcha"
url: "https://www.thedrive.com/news/14603/piece-of-boeing-777-wing-falls-6500-feet-lands-on-moving-car-in-japan"
categories:
  - "News"
tags:
  - "777"
  - "Aviation"
  - "Boeing"
  - "fall"
  - "Japan"
  - "plane"
---

# Piece of Boeing 777 Falls More Than a Mile, Lands on Moving Car in Japan

![](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/images-by-url-td/content/2017/09/klm_boeing_777-300er_kustov.jpg>)
*\<em\>www.thedrive.com</em>*

Up in the sky, look: It's a bird. It's a plane. Actually, it's a panel that fell off a Boeing 777 at around 6,500 feet, and it's about to coming crashing down on your poor car.

[The *BBC* reports](<https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-41379085>) a nine-pound chunk of metal somehow detached from a KLM Royal Dutch Airlines plane that took off from Kansai International Airport in Osaka, Japan on Saturday. It fell approximately 6,500 feet and landed on a car being driven by two women through downtown Osaka. The impact severely damaged the roof of the car and smashed the back window. Pictures of the piece posted to social media show a dented aluminum rectangle decked out in familiar KLM colors.

https://twitter.com/_/status/912051522283999232

Not to make this an SAT problem, but some napkin math shows the panel took around 30 seconds to fall that distance, and was likely plummeting at a pretty good clip by the time it reached the unlucky car. The flat shape of the panel probably slowed it down somewhat, but still, that's not a fun surprise.

Thankfully, neither of the two women in the car were injured, and the 777 with over 300 people on board completed its scheduled trip to the Netherlands without incident. The airline [issued a statement](<https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/klm-777-drops-metal-panel-after-taking-off-from-osa-441430/>) saying they're investigating the incident.

We've all seen videos of small planes [making unexpected cameos](<https://www.thedrive.com/watch-this/12659/small-plane-makes-emergency-landing-on-long-island-highway>) on public roads, but tales of these one-in-a-million trick shots are far rarer. And hey, [there are worse things](<https://www.thedrive.com/watch-this/13422/video-shows-car-plunge-7-stories-off-parking-garage-narrowly-miss-suv>) to almost get smushed by.

## Author
Overseeing an expert staff of writers and editors from his lair in Los Angeles, Kyle shapes The Drive’s singular approach to covering the automotive industry and car culture. He’s been with the site as a writer since 2017, taking over as editor in 2019. On a daily basis, Kyle is responsible for directing The Drive's editorial news and car review content strategies, setting special coverage priorities, managing complex reporting projects, and ensuring what you read on the page meets our high internal standards for quality and trustworthiness. He is also the executive producer of The Drive's YouTube channel, which was relaunched in February 2024 to great acclaim and has accumulated over 14M new views in its first year back on the scene. He hosts a biweekly series on the channel where he breaks down fascinating and complicated stories from the automotive world.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/kylecheromcha.bsky.social>)  
[Instagram](<https://www.instagram.com/kylecheromcha>)  
[LinkedIn](<https://www.linkedin.com/in/kyle-cheromcha-1550248a/>)