Qantas flight scare: Former cop Des Lacy tells of mid-air drama

A former cop has told of mid-air drama on a Qantas flight which was forced to turn back after a reported engine explosion.

Emergency services on the tarmac at Sydney Airport after Qantas flight drama

A former Queensland top cop has told of mid-air drama on a Qantas flight from Sydney to Brisbane which was forced to turn back after a reported engine explosion sparked an airport grassfire.

Des Lacy, a former Gold Coast police chief superintendent who now works in the security industry, was among 174 passengers on the QF520 flight which took off from Sydney Airport about 12.15pm on Friday.

Mr Lacy, who was sitting in the emergency exit aisle, said there was a “bang” after the Boeing 737 took off.

“It wasn’t super-loud, more like a backfire,” he said.

“But you could tell there was something wrong – first there was the bang and then the plane was shuddering. It was like we were going through turbulence.”

Des Lacy has told of his mid-flight scare.

Mr Lacy said the plane was airborne for about 30 minutes and close to full altitude before the pilot announced they were turning back as flight attendants moved up and down the aisles reassuring passengers.

“The captain got on the blower straight away and said ‘I’ll just tell you what happened, we’ve had an issue with the engine, we’ve shut it down but the aircraft can land with one engine easily, we’re trained for these incidents so there’s no need to worry’,” he said.

“It was very well handled by the flight crew and while nobody was freaking out, everybody applauded when we landed. We were all very relieved.”

Mr Lacy said the plane circled for about 30 minutes before landing and was escorted along the tarmac by fire crews.

“Apparently something must have shot out from the engine when we took off because when we landed, I could see there was a significant grass fire,” he said.

“There was smoke everywhere so it had taken hold a fair, but the fireys were in quickly.”

Mr Lacy, who had been in South Korea on a business trip, said he and other passengers were put on another Qantas flight to Brisbane late Friday night.

Qantas has played down concerns over an ‘explosion’.

In a statement, Qantas said its engineers had conducted a preliminary inspection of the engine and confirmed it was a contained engine failure.

“While customers would have heard a loud bang, there was not an explosion,” the airline said.

Earlier, Qantas chief pilot Richard Tobiano said: “One of our flights to Brisbane experienced a suspected engine failure after take-off from Sydney Airport this afternoon. After circling for a short period of time, the aircraft landed safely at Sydney Airport.

“Our pilots are highly trained to handle situations like this and the aircraft landed safely after the appropriate procedures were conducted.

“We understand this would have been a distressing experience for customers and we will be contacting all customers this afternoon to provide support.

“We will also be conducting an investigation into what caused the engine issue.”