Singapore:
A Qantas Boeing 747 with 431 people on board landed safely in Singapore late on Friday after an engine caught fire minutes after it took off from the city-state, the airline and a passenger said.
The problem arose just a day after a Qantas Airbus A380 superjumbo jet made an emergency landing at the same airport due to an engine blowout. (
Read: Qantas flight lands in Singapore after mid-air emergency |
See pics: Nov 4 - Qantas plane lands in Singapore after mid-air emergency)
"There was a loud bang and a jet of fire from the back of the engine," Andrew Jenkins, a 43-year-old Briton who was on his way to Australia on a holiday, told The Associated Press.
Jenkins, who was sitting in seat 62A at the back of the plane on the left side, said he could see the engine clearly. The blast happened "one or two minutes" into the flight when the plane had climbed about 2,000 feet, according to Jenkins, who said he used to fly a two-seater plane.
Flight QF6 from Singapore to Sydney had an issue with its number 1 engine -- one of four -- but the problem on the Boeing plane wasn't immediately specified. The airline indicated it wasn't a serious problem and the same plane was being used when the flight departs later Friday.
Qantas said the captain of the jumbo jet sought priority clearance to return to Singapore as a precaution. There are 412 passengers, three flight crew and 16 cabin crew.
According to Qantas website, Flight QF6 is a Boeing 747-400, which is fitted with four Rolls-Royce RB211-524G-T engines. The daily flight operates between Frankfurt and Sydney with a stopover in Singapore.
The website said the flight is now expected to depart at 11:35 p.m. local time, more than 3 1/2 hours after its scheduled departure. The information indicated that the problem with the engine was not serious and the flight will continue on its onward journey.
After the Airbus A380 emergency landing Thursday, Qantas grounded its fleet of A380s and other airlines made checks of their planes that have the same Rolls-Royce engine. The A380 shed debris from the busted engine onto the thickly populated Indonesian island of Batam.