Six Superjumbos Idled After Emergency Landing Following Engine Failure

Qantas has grounded its entire fleet of six A380 superjumbo airliners following an incident in which a plane departing from Singapore suffered what appeared to be the catastrophic loss of an engine, forcing an emergency landing.

File Photo

Multiple media sources indicate that one of the aircraft's engines failed about 15 minutes after takeoff. Qantas told The Associated Press that there was no explosion, though a witness on the plane said she heard two bangs, and then saw flames and debris coming from the left inboard engine. While the incident happened shortly after takeoff, it was about 90 minutes before the plane landed due to the amount of fuel that had to be jettisoned before the landing could take place.

Qantas CEO Alan Joyce said in a news conference that the problem with the Rolls-Royce engine on the A380 was one "we haven't seen before." He said the fleet would be grounded "until we are completely confident that Qantas safety requirements have been met."

Singapore airlines issued a statement that it was delaying A380 flights to allow Rolls-Royce to conduct precautionary inspections. Lufthansa said it was continuing normal operations of its three A380s.

Airbus has delivered 37 of the superjumbo jets to five airlines. Aviation analysts say this is by far the most serious incident to occur among the fleet since the aircraft entered service.

FMI: www.rolls-royce.com, www.airbus.com, www.qantas.com