A Qantas flight bound for Brisbane has made an emergency landing in Sydney after experiencing engine troubles.
QF520 departed Sydney Airport at about 12.15pm on Friday but returned and landed safely at about 1pm.
The captain is said to have told passengers there was a problem with the right engine. Qantas said it conducted a preliminary inspection and has determined it was a “contained engine failure”.
“After circling for a short period of time, the aircraft landed safely at Sydney Airport,” Qantas said in a statement.
ABC reporter Mark Willacy was among those on board and told the ABC that after takeoff, passengers “knew immediately that something was wrong”.
“We were taxiing out to the runway, and the pilot had turned onto the runway and given it full thrust, and we were at the end of the runway … the wheels were taking off the ground, and there was a large bang and a really jolting shudder went through the plane,” Willacy told the ABC.
He said a “disturbing” part of the incident was how the plane was “really laboured”.
“Obviously, it was trying to do a full take off on one engine, which it can do, but it was a case of not really getting the sort of altitude that you would expect when you’re taking off in a usual manner,” he said. “And so it was a real struggle to get airborne.”
Willacy said the captain told passengers there was a problem with the right engine.
Qantas acknowledged the incident would have been “distressing” for passengers and said it would investigate what caused “the engine issue”.
“While customers would have heard a loud bang, there was not an explosion.”
A Sydney Airport spokesperson said the departure of the flight coincided with a grass fire on the runway, which has since been brought under control.
It has not been confirmed whether it was sparked by the aircraft, but an investigation is underway.
“With the safe arrival of the aircraft, Sydney Airport’s priority is to conduct a full inspection of its parallel runway and to return it to service as quickly as possible,” the Sydney Airport spokesperson said in a statement.
“Sydney Airport’s main runway is operational, however, passengers should also expect some delays.”
These anticipated delays come after an Australia wide outage at international airport immigration gates, which heavily affected Melbourne and Sydney airports.
The Australian Border Force said the issue was resolved at about midday but the cause remains under investigation.
