Two Qantas flights return to Sydney after engineering issues

TWO Qantas flights have been forced to return to Sydney with technical issues after one was spotted dumping fuel off the coast.

TWO Qantas jets have been forced to abandon their flights and return to Sydney after “engineering issues”.

Airbus A380 QF7 took off from Kingsford Smith Airport just before 2pm, bound for Dallas Fort Worth in the United States but flight radars detected the plane circling and dumping fuel.

AIRASIA FLIGHT FORCED TO TURN AROUND AFTER TERRIFYING MIDAIR EMERGENCY  

Two @Qantas flights forced to return to @SydneyAirport. QF7 to U.S. dumping fuel. QF63 to Sth Africa landed. #7News https://t.co/D06AbDpMFL

— 7 News Melbourne (@7NewsMelbourne) August 4, 2017

“The flaps on the aircraft (attached to the wing) are unable to retract which means the aircraft can’t fly efficiently,” Qantas said in a statement on Friday afternoon.

“As the Dallas flight is our longest on the network, the captain made the decision to return to Sydney.”

The plane landed just after 4pm without incident.

A second flight, Qantas QF63 from Sydney to Johannesburg, also needed to return to Sydney due to a cracked pane of glass on the aircraft windscreen.

“An aircraft windscreen is made up of three layers of glass, the outer pane had cracked but did not compromise the integrity of the aircraft,” Qantas said.

The aircraft was safe to continue to Johannesburg, Qantas said, but the captain made the decision to return and have the windscreen replaced in Sydney.

QF63 landed safely at the airport but passengers took to Twitter to vent at the delays.

A bit of a travel delay to get to #BIAconf but thanks @Qantas for getting us back safely to #Sydney pic.twitter.com/GNuPbh8DF2

— Clint Vosloo (@vosloo777) August 4, 2017

So what's happening @qantas. Been sitting at Sydney airport waiting for QF23 to be fixed for over 5 hours now

— RaumatiAl (@RaumatiAl) August 4, 2017

What happened today @Qantas ? Spending the day @SydneyAirport waiting for #qf23 to get off the ground. pic.twitter.com/Sn0ACHw17M

— Jason Maley (@massivecatch) August 4, 2017

“Our operational teams are working through accommodating passengers or offering them transport home before replacement services are organised,” the airline said.

The latest incidents come after a Qantas flight was forced to land in June after dumping fuel at sea.

A Melbourne woman on the Los Angeles-bound flight QF93, which diverted to Sydney said the crew made the decision to turn around.

Jessica McCallum, 29, praised Qantas crew for their handling of the situation, after an emergency light came on in the cockpit of the A380 about an hour into the flight.

“A staff member came over toward our row and asked the people in front if they would mind if they had a look at the engine outside the window,” she told news.com.au while still sitting in her seat on the tarmac at Sydney Airport.

“He then rushed off and we didn’t hear anything for a while.

“We were then told about the oil leak affecting the second engine on the left side.

“We were told we would divert to Sydney and land in 25 minutes.

“We were circling around for ages until the pilot could get the centre of gravity of the plane level just so we could land safely.”

In December 2014 a Qantas flight made an emergency landing in Perth after the plane’s air conditioning failed.

It was put into an emergency descent while travelling at some 39,000 feet, eventually levelling out at about 10,000 feet, in order to maintain internal air pressure.