Qantas flight returns to US with engine trouble

San Francisco:  A Qantas jet headed for Australia returned safely to San Francisco International Airport early on Tuesday after a problem with one of the engines forced pilots to turn back.

Flight 74, carrying 212 passengers and a crew of 18, left San Francisco for Sydney at 11:05 pm Pacific Time on Monday (0605 GMT on Tuesday) and returned at 12:45 am (0745 GMT) on Tuesday, San Francisco airport duty manager said.

About 15 minutes into the flight, the crew noticed vibration in engine No. 4, a Qantas Airways spokesman said by telephone from Sydney.

The crew shut down one of the four engines on the Boeing 747 and sought priority clearance to return to San Francisco.

The pilot dumped fuel over the Pacific as a precaution, he said.

There were no injuries during the emergency landing, Qantas Airways spokesman said, and the plane was able to pull up to the jetway at the terminal so passengers could deplane.

A Qantas Airways spokesman said there was no fire, but an engine surge can often cause what appear to be flames.

The sparks created a large hole in the engine cowling, the metal shell around the engine.

"Oh, I thought they're prepared for all that sort of thing, so I just sat there and I suppose said a little prayer like everybody else," passenger Lynne McInroy told Australian television.

Qantas spokesman David Epstein said this was the airline's first engine failure of this type.

"We certainly had no reason to expect this. This is certainly the first failure of this type that we've ever experienced as an airline. And as we understand it, other airlines operating this type of aircraft with this type of engine haven't experienced this sort of failure either," Epstein said on Australian television.

Qantas put the passengers up in hotels for the night and planned to make arrangements for them to get to Sydney on Tuesday, Qantas Airways spokesman said.

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Tags: engine trouble, Qantas flight, safe landing