SINGAPORE — A Qantas Boeing 747 with 431 people on board landed safely in Singapore late 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.
“There was a loud bang and a jet of fire from the back of the engine,” Andrew Jenkins, a 43-year-old Briton, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.
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.
“We all realized that it was clear that there was a problem. The problem itself did not last very long,” he said.
The captain dealt with the problem, stabilized the plane and came on the public address system to announce that he was returning to Singapore, said Jenkins, a banker, who had come to Singapore on business and was on his way to Australia for a holiday.
Qantas said in a statement later that flight QF6 from Singapore to Sydney had an issue with its number 1 engine — one of four engines.
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.
After the aircraft returned to Singapore, the passengers were taken in a bus to a hotel for an overnight stay. They are expected to leave Saturday.
According to the 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 initially said the flight is now expected to depart at 11:35 p.m. local time, but later changed the time to 8:15 p.m. Saturday.
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.
Jenkins said that “initially there was quite a bit of shock and surprise” after the bang was heard from the engine. “Obviously it was a lot worse for some people because of what happened yesterday” with the A380, he said.
“When we realized that everything was under control, everyone was very calm,” said Jenkins.
The plane did not lurch or dip, although it felt slightly out of balance, he said.
“The crew was very good, kept everyone informed. There was no panic. It was nice to get some reassuring words and you could tell the captain was totally honest about what was going on. He was not brushing over anything,” said Jenkins. The plane turned around and the landing was very smooth.
“Absolutely perfect landing,” he said.
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