SYDNEY (Reuters) -A Qantas Airways aircraft sure for Brisbane suffered an engine failure after take-off on Friday and circled for a brief time period earlier than returning safely to Sydney Airport, the Australian airline mentioned.
Passengers heard a loud bang from one of many plane’s two engines, Australian media reported.
A journalist with nationwide broadcaster ABC was on the flight and mentioned there was a “sharp shudder” on the aircraft after the loud noise, his information outlet reported.
“It was apparent something had happened with one of the engines, then the plane seemed to labour to get off the ground or get any altitude,” ABC journalist Mark Willacy mentioned.
Qantas didn’t disclose the variety of passengers or crew aboard the narrow-body aircraft, which its web site states presents 12 enterprise and 162 financial system seats.
The airline mentioned its engineers had carried out a preliminary inspection of the engine and confirmed it was a contained engine failure, which means the interior engine components stayed inside the protecting housing designed to maintain them safely enclosed.
Uncontained engine failures, the place engine fragments fly out of this housing, can lead to severe injury to the primary physique of an plane.
Qantas flight QF520 took off from Sydney at 12:35 p.m. (0135 GMT), circled just a few occasions and diverted to land at Sydney, monitoring information from Flightradar24 confirmed.
The plane’s departure coincided with a grass fireplace breaking out alongside Sydney Airport’s parallel runway that was introduced below management by groups from the aviation firefighting rescue service, the airport mentioned in an announcement.
“It’s not clear at this stage if the two incidents are linked and investigations are continuing,” the airport added.
Qantas mentioned the aircraft landed safely after acceptable procedures have been carried out and added it might be investigating the reason for the engine difficulty.
The aircraft is a 19-year-old Boeing 737-800, in line with Flightradar24. That mannequin is powered by engines from CFM International, a three way partnership between GE Aerospace and France’s Safran.
Twin-engine passenger planes of this type are designed to have the ability to be flown on one engine in an emergency.
“We understand this would have been a distressing experience for customers and we will be contacting all customers this afternoon to provide support,” Qantas Chief Pilot Captain Richard Tobiano mentioned in an announcement.
By Friday afternoon Sydney Airport mentioned all its runways had re-opened after the parallel runway had been closed for inspection, however passenger delays could proceed into the night.
