A Qantas 747 jet has landed safely after a engine issues
A QANTAS flight carrying the South African rugby team was forced to turn around two hours into its journey from Johannesburg to Sydney after one of its engines malfunctioned.
Australian passenger Mark Sowerby said he was glad to be back on the ground after the incident on Friday.
”It wasn’t much fun at all, it was a pretty ordinary experience,” the Brisbane business executive said. ”I was on the exit row so I could see the engine.
”We were joking that if there were cameras at the airport we would say, ‘We were fine but the Springboks turned to water’.”
Members of the Springboks, who were on their way to Sydney for Saturday’s opening game of the Tri-Nations, made light of the incident on QF64.
Lock Alistair Hargreaves tweeted: ”One of the engines just failed and we had to turn round. Beautiful start to the trip!”
Qantas sent another plane to Johannesburg yesterday to pick up the stranded passengers.
A spokesman for the airline denied reports that the engine had exploded.
”An engine on QF64 (Boeing 747) experienced an increase in vibration and temperature this morning,” he said.
”In line with procedures the pilots shut down the engine, and as a safety precaution returned to Johannesburg.
”The aircraft had a normal landing not long afterwards and the passengers disembarked.”
Qantas engineers are investigating the cause of the incident.
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