Qantas grounded its Airbus A380 fleet after one of the superjumbo jets blew out an engine yesterday, shooting flames and raining large metal chunks before making a safe emergency landing in Singapore with 459 people aboard.
It was most serious midair incident involving the double-decker A380, the world’s largest and latest airliner, since it debuted in October 2007 with Singapore Airlines flying it to Sydney — the same route that Qantas flight QF34 was flying when it was stricken.
Qantas said there had been no explosion, but witnesses aboard the plane and on the ground reported blasts. After the plane touched down in Singapore, the engine closest to the fuselage on the left wing had visible burn marks and was missing a section of plate that would have been painted with the red kangaroo logo of the airline. The upper part of the left wing also appeared damaged.
One passenger, Rosemary Hegardy, 60, of Sydney, said that she heard two bangs and saw yellow flames from her window.
“There was flames — yellow flames came out, and debris came off ... You could see black things shooting through the smoke, like bits of debris,” she said.
Although it was nearly 90 minutes from the time of the explosion to the plane landing, there was no panic inside the plane, she said.
Residents on the western Indonesian island of Batam, near Singapore, helped authorities pick up more than 100 pieces of debris scattered in 15 locations in Batam. The pieces, mostly small, torn metal, but some the size of doors, were brought to police headquarters for the investigation.
The engine trouble happened 15 minutes after takeoff from Singapore at 9:56am. The plane landed after 1 hour, 50 minutes.
Qantas spokeswoman Emma Kearns in Sydney said there were no injuries or an explosion on board. The airline described the problem as an “engine issue” without elaborating.
“We will suspend those A380 services until we are completely confident that Qantas safety requirements have been met,” Qantas CEO Alan Joyce told a news conference in Sydney.
Singapore Airlines later said in a statement it would be “delaying all flights operating our A380 aircraft” after Rolls-Royce and Airbus advised it to conduct precautionary technical checks.
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