Qantas Superjumbo hit by mid-air engine fault
Baku, November 4 (AZERTAC). A UK-bound Qantas superjumbo has made an unscheduled landing after suffering engine problems - exactly one year after another`s engine disintegrated.
More than 250 passengers were on board the Airbus A380 flying from Sydney to London.
Oil problems caused the crew to shut down one of the jet`s four engines four hours after a refuelling stop at Singapore.
Flight QF31 was diverted to Dubai and flew on the remaining three serviceable Rolls-Royce Trent 900 jet engines for more than two hours before landing safely.
None of the 258 passengers or 25 crew members was hurt, a Qantas spokeswoman said. Qantas said the superjumbo had suffered a problem with oil pressure in its number four engine, describing the incident as a "one-off".
The incident comes a year to the day since the Rolls-Royce engine of another Qantas A380 blew up after taking off from Singapore.
The airline confirmed it was not the same A380 that was involved in last year`s incident, adding that the timing of the latest problem was a "coincidence".
"Obviously, it will be a priority of ours to work out what the particular problem is in this engine," the spokeswoman added. The airline said it was working to arrange alternative flights to take the passengers on to London.
Qantas grounded its entire Airbus fleet for more than a fortnight in 2010 after the mid-air explosion near Singapore.
Debris from the faulty engine casing fell on residential and industrial areas of the Indonesian city of Batam while the plane dumped fuel before landing.
The fault was later found to have been caused by a defective engine pipe leaking oil, sparking a fire that destroyed a turbine disc and sent pieces of the disc into the plane`s wing. A380s around the world were grounded so engine maker Rolls-Royce could replace the part. After the latest incident the share price in Rolls-Royce fell more than 0.5% in early trading in London.
Last weekend Qantas`s entire fleet was grounded because of a long-running dispute with trade unions.
On November 2, officials said police were investigating the suspected sabotage of the entertainment system on another Qantas plane after engineers noticed several wires were cut on the plane`s in-flight entertainment system during the labour dispute.
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