A passenger plane travelling from San Francisco to Australia was forced to make an emergency landing after one of its engines burst into flames.
A newly-wed returning from his honeymoon in the United States filmed the incident on his mobile phone about 15 minutes after take-off.
The footage shows one of the Qantas Airways Boeing 747's four engines shooting out sparks in a process known as "engine surge".
"I heard a thud, a bump and the plane veered off to the left," passenger Nolan Goldstein told KTVU-TV.
"It was very uncertain for a period of time until the captain announced that we had an engine that blew up.
"It was a real uncomfortable vibration at first and then the plane began to shake a bit."
The crew shut down the affected engine before returning to San Francisco International Airport.
A spokesman for Qantas Airways said the pilot dumped fuel over the Pacific as a precaution before the emergency landing.
He said none of the 212 passengers and 18 crew were injured during the incident.
"Engineers have determined the engine does need replacement, and they are checking to see what caused the problem," he added.
The flames created a large hole in the engine cowling.
Experts said this kind of engine failure, where a piece of the engine breaks off and pierces the cowling, is "an extremely rare event".
Aviation consultant John Nance said Boeing 747s "are designed to actually lose three of four engines and still be able to get back".
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/5/20100901/vid ... eb865.html
(Delay in posting due to permissions wait.)
A newly-wed returning from his honeymoon in the United States filmed the incident on his mobile phone about 15 minutes after take-off.
The footage shows one of the Qantas Airways Boeing 747's four engines shooting out sparks in a process known as "engine surge".
"I heard a thud, a bump and the plane veered off to the left," passenger Nolan Goldstein told KTVU-TV.
"It was very uncertain for a period of time until the captain announced that we had an engine that blew up.
"It was a real uncomfortable vibration at first and then the plane began to shake a bit."
The crew shut down the affected engine before returning to San Francisco International Airport.
A spokesman for Qantas Airways said the pilot dumped fuel over the Pacific as a precaution before the emergency landing.
He said none of the 212 passengers and 18 crew were injured during the incident.
"Engineers have determined the engine does need replacement, and they are checking to see what caused the problem," he added.
The flames created a large hole in the engine cowling.
Experts said this kind of engine failure, where a piece of the engine breaks off and pierces the cowling, is "an extremely rare event".
Aviation consultant John Nance said Boeing 747s "are designed to actually lose three of four engines and still be able to get back".
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/5/20100901/vid ... eb865.html
(Delay in posting due to permissions wait.)
John
"My lovely car now sold onto a very happy new owner.
I still love this marque and I will still be around, preferred selling to breaking, as a great runner and performer"
"My lovely car now sold onto a very happy new owner.
I still love this marque and I will still be around, preferred selling to breaking, as a great runner and performer"
