A Brisbane-bound Qantas flight was forced to make an emergency landing at Sydney airport after the aircraft suffered an engine failure.
The flight, which departed Sydney at 12:35pm local time, landed back at the airport at 1pm after a loud “bang” was reportedly heard on board the Boeing B737 carrying around 170 passengers.
It is understood a grass fire broke out as the aircraft took off, but it is not yet clear whether the engine sparked the blaze.
Mark Willacy, a journalist on board the flight, told ABC TV that just as the plane was taking off “there was a large bang and a really jolting shudder went through the plane”.
He said: “We knew immediately something was wrong, but what was more disturbing, I think, was the plane really laboured after that.”
“It was a real struggle to get airborne and it was clear to everyone, the crew and the passengers, that something was badly wrong at that point.”
Willacy said the plane slowly gained more altitude and banked to the west, did a loop and then came back over Sydney and the ocean.
The pilots spoke to passengers after 10 or 15 minutes to explain something happened with the engine on the right wing, but “it was shut down [and] things were under control”.
The aircraft then landed and firetrucks came to inspect the engine. Willacy said there was a lot of smoke and passengers witnessed the grass fire.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau said it has “commenced a transport safety investigation into the engine failure incident involving a Qantas 737 aircraft during take-off from Sydney on Friday afternoon”.
One passenger on board the aircraft shared a video of the landing on X (formerly Twitter). He said: “Our landing at Sydney airport was aborted by a grass fire next to the runway.”
Our landing at Sydney airport was aborted by a grass fire next to the runway. Have the fire crews something to do. pic.twitter.com/EbTwYD6ZGV
— Nigel Withers (@MajorBlipvert) November 8, 2024
No injuries were reported, and passengers were rebooked on alternative services.
