Sydney-bound passengers from Tokyo tell of mid-flight horror after Qantas engine drama
Passengers on-board a Qantas flight departing Tokyo have told of the terrifying moment they spotted flames and sparks billowing from their aircraft’s engine, before it was diverted to Cairns.
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PASSENGERS on-board a Qantas flight departing Tokyo have told of the terrifying moment they spotted flames and sparks billowing from their aircraft’s engine, forcing their plane to be diverted to Cairns.
Passengers on board Qantas flight QF26 departing Tokyo for Sydney reported hearing a loud bang while mid-flight, and seeing sparks come from one of the port jet engines of the Boeing 747 400 in the early hours of Sunday.
Desmon Du Plessis and David Jonas were returning home to Bellingen via Sydney after a Japanese holiday.
Mr Du Plessis, who had been seated over the wing, said one of the aircraft’s four engines stopped and the plane lost altitude almost immediately.
“I was sitting at the window and there was an incredibly loud bang and when I looked out there was an orange flame and then sparks, it was like white,” he said.
“And then everything started shaking and you could hear the engine die straight away.”
Mr Jonas said after the seat belt sign was illuminated, the aircraft started shaking a lot, and it descended sharply.
“We went from 10,000m to 7000m quite quickly and then we continued for a while,” he said.
“The captain, very sensibly, made the decision to bring the aircraft to the first Australian airport he could find — which was Cairns — but that took about two hours.”
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Mr du Plessis said the captain addressed the passengers, most of whom were asleep, after the engine failure.
The midair emergency occurred five hours out of Tokyo, passengers then endured an anxious two hour flight on three engines before landing at Cairns International Airport at 5.10am.
“It was a bit scary,” Mr Du Plessis said.
“We were deeply, deeply relieved (to land safely).”
Mr Jonas said the situation wasn’t helped by “a couple of grouchy businessmen trying to throw their weight around” due to the inconvenience.
“You really want to take them by the collars and shake them and say ‘do you realise we are really lucky to be back on deck’,” he said.
Sydney resident Andrew Mak, who had been in Japan on holiday with his wife, said he felt a “bit of an explosion” on the left hand side of the aircraft, while most of the other passengers were asleep.
“The gentleman in front of me, he opened up the (window) blind and then we both saw that there were just streaks of sparks flying from one of the engines,” he said.
“Obviously we were quite concerned about that.
“We didn’t quite know what was happening. There were quite a few vibrations occurring from that initial explosion.”
He said about 10 minutes later, when sparks were still bellowing from the engine, the pilot announced they were able to shut down the engine.
“He told us we would continue our journey, at that point, but they would see what they could do about the vibrations — because the vibrations were audible.
“It wasn’t like turbulence you would normally feel, it was constant.”
A Qantas spokeswoman confirmed the Tokyo-Sydney flight was diverted to Cairns due to an issue with one of the aircraft’s engines.
She said while the passengers may have heard the loud bang, there was never a safety risk with the flight as the Boeing 747 400 is designed to safely operate on three of its four engines.
“In line with standard procedures, the pilots shut down the engine and the flight diverted to Cairns,” she said.
“The aircraft had a normal landing and engineers are inspecting the aircraft.
“Customers will be transferred to other flights out of Cairns to reach their final destination today.”
Originally published as Sydney-bound passengers from Tokyo tell of mid-flight horror after Qantas engine drama
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