Qantas and Singapore Airlines ground their A380 fleetsPassengers aboard a Qantas Airways superjumbo forced to make an emergency landing in Singapore today spoke of their horror as they heard a loud bang and watched pieces of engine fall from the plane soon after it took off for Sydney.The Australian airline immediately grounded all six of its Airbus A380 aircraft ? the world's biggest passenger jet ? after the incident, in which all 433 passengers and 26 crew emerged unharmed. Officials from Singapore Airlines also announced that it would delay all flights of its Airbus A380 fleet.The flight, which originated in London, experienced engine problems over western Indonesia at about 10am local time, before making an emergency landing at Singapore's Changi airport almost two hours after it took off.Qantas's chief executive, Alan Joyce, said a "significant engine failure" had occurred."We do take our safety reputation and our standards unbelievably seriously," he told a news conference. "And we're not going to take any risks with passenger safety. As a precaution, we're suspending flights of the A380 aircraft until we're comfortable that we understand the reasons for this."This issue, an engine failure, has been one that we haven't seen before. So we are obviously taking it very seriously, because it is a significant engine failure."Pieces of debris thought to have come from the aircraft were found on the Indonesian island of Batam, according to local reports.Passengers recalled the moment one of the plane's four Rolls-Royce engines exploded. "I was on the plane right next to engine two, which exploded with a loud bang within the first 10-15 minutes of takeoff," Lars Sandberg, a DJ who was due to tour Australia, told the BBC."I thought something had fallen down in cargo underneath the plane, but the plane started shaking ? I'm a little bit shaken up. I travel a lot and this is the first big scare I've had."Sandberg said the captain had kept passengers updated throughout the plane's return to Singapore. "[He] did a good job in reassuring us, making announcements every few minutes. I'm just happy to be alive and back in the terminal building."Another passenger, Tyler Wooster, said the explosion sounded "like a shotgun going off"."Part of the skin had peeled off and you could see the foam underneath, pieces of broken wires sticking out," he told Australia's Network Nine television. "My whole body just went to jelly and I didn't know what was going to happen as we were going down, if we were going to be OK."Transport officials in Singapore quickly ruled out a link between the incident and volcanic ash spewing from Mount Merapi, which has erupted several times in recent days."The shutdown of the Qantas engine had no connection with Mount Merapi," Bambang Ervan, a transport ministry spokesman, said. "It was too far from the volcano. The sky over Singapore and Sumatra island is free of dust."A spokesman for Rolls-Royce said an investigation was under way: "The investigation is at an early stage. We are aware of the situation and are working with our client."The Foreign Office confirmed that a number of British people had been aboard the flight and said they were being offered consular assistance by the British high commission in Singapore.The incident is among the most serious to have affected the A380 ? touted as the most economical and quietest as well as largest aircraft in the world ? since it went into commercial service three years ago.Qantas and British Airways, with whom the Australian airline has a joint ticket-selling and code-sharing arrangement, are expected to fly large numbers of cricket fans to Australia in the coming days to watch the Ashes.A BA spokeswoman said the airline was in talks with Qantas about the possibility of taking on extra passengers. But she added: "We don't have a huge amount of spare capacity at the moment."Neil Shephard, a former aircraft engineer who was on the flight, said the plane had circled for about an hour to dump fuel before making the emergency landing."During the landing, it was a bit wobbly," he said. "We could not tell the extent of the problem until we got out of the plane, where we could see one hole around six to seven inches wide on the wing. The pilot did a good job. It could have been worse."Fellow passenger Ulf Waschbusch said he said he saw debris pierce the plane's wings about five minutes after takeoff. "I saw pieces of the engine, the number three engine, fly off the wing through the wing itself and short bursts of flames for about a second or two," he said on ITV's Daybreak. "It was one of the scariest things I have ever seen on an aircraft."While Qantas denied there had been an explosion, people on the ground in Batam confirmed passenger accounts of the incident, saying they heard a loud bang as the plane flew overhead. "There were metal shards coming down from the sky," one witness told the AFP news agency.Burn marks were visible on the engine closest to the fuselage on the plane's left wing, while a section of plate carrying the airline's red kangaroo logo was missing.As Qantas announced the launch of a full investigation, other operators of the A380 ? Singapore Airlines, Air France-KLM, Lufthansa and Emirates ? said they had no plans to ground their fleets.The incident comes as Qantas, which has an impressive safety record, prepares to celebrate its 90th anniversary.Neither the airline nor the A380 has ever suffered a fatality, but the incident will inevitably raise questions about the aircraft's safety as it comes after a string of problems.An engine malfunction forced a Singapore Airlines A380 to return to Paris mid-flight in September 2009, and in March this year two tyres burst on a Qantas A380 as it landed in Sydney after a flight from Singapore.About the Airbus A380? Number in operation: 37? Total orders: 234? Number of airports it regularly flies to: 26? Five airlines operating the plane: Singapore Airlines (11 aircraft), Emirates (13), Qantas (6), Air France (4), Lufthansa (3)? Engines: Four. Airlines choose between manufacturers Rolls-Royce and Engine Alliance (a 50-50 joint venture between GE Aircraft Engines and Pratt & Whitney)? Overall length: 72.73 metres? Height: 24.09 metres? Wingspan: 79.75 metres? Typical passenger seating: 525? Number of cabin windows: 220? CO2 per passenger kilometre: 75g? There have so far been more 21,000 commercial flights, involving 90,000 hours in the sky and more than 7.5 million passengersAir transportAirbusAirline industryAustraliaSingaporeJustin McCurryguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
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