Qantas flight 74 returns to SFO, hole in engine (video)
SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. -- At San Francisco's International Airport, SFO, a Qantas flight headed for Sydney, Australia had to turn around and make a fast emergency landing back at SFO when it was discovered there was something wrong with one of its engines.
There were 212 passengers and 19 crew aboard the Qantas flight 74 that left SFO for Sydney at 11.10pm last night.
Just 45 minutes into the flight, passengers could hear a loud "thud." You can see from the video clip below just how big of a hole that "thud" made.
There were no injuries to passengers or crew in the incident and hotel were found for all passengers on board Qantas flight 74.
The Qantas flight 74 had four engines and one of them was affected. The loud thud then sent a shower of sparks into the air and there was a small fire in the engine.
One passenger on the Qantas flight 74, Paul Irangio, said: "All I could see was just a shower of sparks. But it was remarkably calm, I was really surprised that during the whole sort of fireworks show that there was no screaming and no very obvious signs of panic," reports San Francisco's ABC 7 News.
In order to land safely, the pilot of Qantas flight 74 had to drop fuel into the Pacific Ocean and this resulted in some bouncing for the passengers, as the weight on board and in the cargo hold moved around.
Qantas has made plans to rebook the passengers on flight 74 and those passengers were in the airport terminal until 3.45am on Tuesday morning.
No other SFO travel has been affected by the Qantas flight 74 incident.
Feel free to comment on Qantas flight 74 returns to SFO, hole in engine (video)
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Comments
From the photographs, this appears to have been a failure of the main fan which was "uncontained".
The hole in the engine shroud is where portions of the main fan (which separated from the hub) - exited the engine housing. These fans spin at many hundred of RPM and, when a piece separates it is ejected away from the fan by centrifugal force.
Fortunately for the passengers and crew, these fragments exited AWAY from the main cabin.
Had this NOT occurred - it is possible that the passenger cabin could have been penetrated by the flying shrapnel..
These individuals are very very lucky indeed.
This kind of failure is pretty serious and one which will garner significant review by NTSB and the airline.
Some may recall the flight of UAL 232 which was piloted by the outstanding skills of those in command back to Sioux city and which was crippled by a similar failure, albeit a much more serious failure of the entire fan hub, which resulted in the loss of the entire fan assembly. In the current case of Qantas 74, this looks (again - based on pictures) to have been a failure of one (or more) of the fan blade assemblies. . .
Wow those passengers were very lucky indeed! It is always frightening when things go wrong on a plane. I hope Qantas will run a full investigation into what happened here.
Sorry that the video is not working, it would have been good to see the pictures of the hole. I believe it is quite a substantial size.
Must have been a huge shock to the passengers and all the crew. A relief it turned out okay
How does such a thing even happen on a flight? That's just dreadful and I am surprised there was not a lot more panic. Maybe the passengers were half asleep or didn't realize what great danger they could have been in.
My son was on that flight! They knew something severe had happened and could see 50' of flames and sparks coming from that engine. He was one of 7 missionaries heading to Brisbane. He said there was a lot of praying going on. "Scarriest experience of my life." I am sure God had a hand in protecting them
Anonymous - I was also on that flight and there certainly was a lot of praying going on. It just goes to show that God really does answer those prayers, whether they are spoken out loud or said silently
god has nothing to do with it......you freaks
Interesting slides. I don't know where to access the video, so, didn't see the hole. Lucky that the passengers and crew were all safe. Wonder what caused the hole.
I head on the news that if the explosion had sent debris into the plane there could have been a catastrophe, yikes.
A very serious incident with potentialy disasterous consequences. However these aircraft can fly, albeit with difficulty, on only one servicable engine. We should also remember that thousands of other engines were spinning away at the same moment in the worlds skies in perfect harmony. Thank goodness for the skills of our aeronautical designers, engineers and pilots.
That would have been such a scary ordeal.
Ability to remain airborne is one aspect of aviation safety and as Uncle J says, is a testament to the skills of many involved. Ability to keep passenger safe and unharmed was - in this case - a matter of considerable luck .
Had the components that tore loose severed the pressure hull or adjacent engine, problems could have been far worse.
Looks like there was an airworthiness directive for just this kind of problem on this very same Rolls Royce engine - see here -
http://www.smh.com.au/travel/qantas-engine-explosion-followed-safety-war...
Now that is real reporting. You use a stock pictuture of a A380 when the plane in question is a B747
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