An A380 Emirates jet bound for Dubai was forced to return to Australia on Sunday night when one of its engines caught fire soon after take-off.
The flight, with 380 passengers on board, was just 20 minutes into its flight from Sydney to Dubai and climbing at an altitude of 10,000 feet when it experienced a problem with one of its engines.
“Emirates flight EK413 from Sydney to Dubai on 11 November turned back shortly after take-off due to an engine fault. Passengers are being re-booked on alternative flights,” the airline said in a statement on Monday.
A mid-air engine blowout in November 2010 on an A380 using Rolls Royce Trent engines prompted Australia’s Qantas Airlines to ground its entire fleet of Airbus superjumbos for nearly a month.
Emirates, the world’s biggest user of A380s, uses rival GP7200 engines built by Engine Alliance, a joint venture between engine manufacturers General Electric and Pratt & Whitney.
Passengers on the giant double-deck aircraft, manufactured by Airbus parent EADS, said the superjumbo experienced a “judder” and then they saw flames shooting several metres out of one of the engines.
“I saw a flash. I thought it could have been lightning, but then we saw flames come out of the engine. The whole interior of the A380 lit up,” passenger John Fothergill, 49, from New Zealand told Australia’s Daily Telegraph newspaper.
Emirates apologised for the inconvenience to its passengers and said their safety was “of the highest priority and will not be compromised.”
Superjumbos, worth $375 million apiece, typically carry around 525 passengers.
A380 aircraft, manufactured in Toulouse from parts sourced across Europe, have also been affected by cracks in the wings of a small number of planes.
There are eighteen airlines currently using the aircraft with total orders outstanding for 262.
[Reuters]
Not good for both Airbus and Emirates… especially if you are Zambian and were on the Lusaka to Dubai abortive flight… not good at all.
There was a similar incident on 3rd November 2012 on a flight from Dubai to Lusaka. Emirates needs to be grounded.
Thank God, why is it dat Emirate fleets develop faults almost evry month now? pipo be Prayerful
Just ground this fleet of your AIRBUS
Glad it didn’t get any worse and nobody got hurt.Nice to see LT spice up their news coverage with international stuff to broaden the zedian mind away from Sata,kabimbo & co who only know retail politics.Thats how poor mfumbwe voters were cheated into voting PF bcoz they are made to believe theres no life beyond Sata.LT give us more international news and in time Sata will be history.
Those who are condeming Airbus, same aircraft engines are used across different aircraft manufacturers so this can easily be a problem for Boeing as well
Too much problems with Emirates, almost all the time, if they dont manage to crash, it`s heavy turbulances if not fire on engines, just scrap these planes off and buy new ones end of story.
It can be a problem for Boeing as well but so far, all we have seen are problems happening to Airbus.
Emirates not to be trusted by me ever.
I dont see Dora Soft bums these days,where is she?
EU should ban Emirates from its air space.
IT REALLY DOES MOT SURPRISE ME WHEN I READ IGNORANT COMMENTS FILLED WITH JEALOUSY FROM ZAMBIANS.
YOU ARE JUST FULL OF HATE FOR ANY SUCCESFULL THING BECAUSE YOU ARE POOR AND UNDERPRIVILEGED. YOU WILL REMAIN THAT WAY BECAUSE YOU ARE LAZY,JEALOUS AND GOOD AT CRITISIZING BUT NEVER WORK.
EMIRATES IS THE AIRLINE WITH THE MOST AWARDS IN THE WORLD COMPARED TO WHEN IT WAS FORMED,IT HAS THE MOST MODERN AND YOUNGEST FLEETS AND ITS THE MOST PROFITABLE.
WTF DOES ZAMBIA HAVE, OTHER THAN JEALOUS LAZY DRUNKARDS
My friend, you are right. the problem is that this country Zambian is full of Africans
Well stated jealous, PHDs & yes a bunch of drunkards…
Emirates sucks and it`s not Zambia which has caused these problems that you have, so stop spilling your anger on innocent people stating their views on top of that your custormers, we speak out cause we use it, our relatives do and so are our friends, if you talk about zambians like that then go f****K yourselves and shove it in each others A*******S!
# 9
This is not about jealous you ignorant twit, the evidence on the ground speaks volume of what is happening on the ground.
Maybe your so-called success has led to compromise in safety…
Wake up to reality, you moron
Kabwamba kobe!
@ nalema. use correct english for your guestion. what do you have or what do we have? munankala liti azungu bambo?
Etihad is not “bazungu!!!!”
Ok, Nalema #9, we get you – BUT what is your comment about the content of the article and the reference to the once grounded Qantas Air jumbos? What would you advise the “jealous” Zambian travelers to do in this event? Work harder and continue flying with this perception? I believe flight passengers do have and can opt for alternatives, can’t they? Is that also a jealous move? Would love to have your take on this.
We should thank the technology that airbus has that enables it to quench a fire by itself. Had it been the old type of technology we cud be talking abt a different story. Therefore the issue here shd not be banning the flights but investigating the faults and improving on them further. Otherwise the airbus remains the safest plane the world has ever had.
On the 3rd November 2012 I flew from Guangzhou, China to Dubai where i was to connect to Zed on another flight (Emirates) on Sunday the 4th November 2012. The Emirates flight to Zambia was to leave at 09:00 hrs (Dubai time) and after passengers bound for Harare and Lusaka checked in and awaiting take-off, we were told that the Air-conditioning was not working and that we give the engineers 30 minutes to fix problem. An hour later we were told that the problem could not be fixed and that we had to disembark and jump on another Emirates flight that was being prepared. Alas, after being told that this new flight would leave at 11.40 (Dubai time), we only departed Dubai at 13:00 hrs Dubai time and Lusaka bound passengers were further inconvenienced when the flight plan was re-routed to Harare.
Zambians / bloggers, it is so saddening to read educated people comment with bad language and hate. Something is wrong with our attitudes as Zambians. Emirates is not the first to have such engine problems. Just a word of Advice, this is an airline with most awards, very serious with passenger and crew safety. No airline would pray to crush as an investment, Good will in terms of the Trade Name “Emirates Airline”. Let us debate sensibly than insult each other. Are Zambians lazy? NOT. Is Emirates a Bad Airline NOT. One of the top world airlines, best and is a success story we may learn from if we mean to bring our national carrier. DEBATE with WISDOM & RESPECT.
Okay, we get you but what do you say about the incident reported in the above article? And what do you say about the similar incident that happened on the flight from Lusaka to the UAE last month? You think statistics about what a great and safe airline it is will impress us?You think having won the ‘most’ awards will impress us? HELL NO! We want to see airline not just talking the talk.
Nalema, Yes Zambian’s love to drink and yes we can be lazy at times but why should we be jealous of potential disaster? we enjoy peace and freedom with a drink, something you can only envy because you would get arrested or shot from your part of the world. If you didn’t know, Emirates fly to Zambia because of it’s natural wealth and because Zambians can afford to pay for a ticket to fly with an airline of their choice.
so if it crushes that means over 500 people perishing, isn’t that more than the total people that died in both world wars combined?
again?
Emirates should audit their maintenance procedures and the skills of their maintenance personnel. These could be man-made faults
Let Emirates employ Zambian Aircraft Engineers as “spanner boys and girls” and the problem will be sorted out. Kekekekeke
When it comes to their planes its a minor issue, but if it was Chinese made u could have heard the trash!
I think Boeing has a better record being older instituition
Excellent focus ! Excellent shot ! Really Beautiful PictureWonderful perspective and wdfreonul colourIs really great work.I am having internet problem lately in my home,Sorry cant comment on your wdfreonul picture,On the time!!!!! hope now I can enjoy the lovely picture of you…. Thanks My Friends for each praise, comment and support!Have wdfreonul week 2 you and your Wonderful family..