Flames as Qantas jet hits Sydney runway
SCARE … A Qantas A380 Airbus sits on the runway at Sydney Airport after blowing out two tyres during a landing. Picture: Bill Hearne
FLAMES shot out from the undercarriage of a Qantas A380 when two tyres burst as it landed at Sydney Airport last night – the second emergency involving the airline in the past 48 hours.
A worker at the airport told The Daily Telegraph he heard a huge roar and then saw flames coming from under the plane.
“I thought there was a serious crash, there were sparks and flames shooting out everywhere,” he said.
“And the noise was deafening, like cannons going off. I really thought something catastrophic had happened.”
The 244 passengers on board QF32 from London via Singapore were stranded on the tarmac for nearly two hours before being bussed to the terminal to meet anxious relatives.
“We saw from the observation deck . . . when it touched down the left wheel burst into flames and there were sparks and fire from the left-hand side and there was black smoke and when it went down the runway it stopped,” Wayne Morris,
58, from Queanbeyan, who was waiting for his wife Maria to arrive home from a London holiday, said.
“The control tower said over the radio that all the tyres were blown. I was very concerned because you don’t expect to see flames from a plane and after the engineers went on strike it makes you ask the question about safety.”
The incident comes after a Singapore-bound Qantas 747 was forced to return to Sydney Airport on Tuesday evening because of engine troubles and as Qantas engineers plan strike action for the Easter long weekend.
At meetings yesterday, Association of Professional Engineers, Scientists and Managers Australia (APESMA) members voted to extend overtime bans through the four-day break beginning tomorrow.
Qantas group executive of government and corporate affairs David Epstein said the union industrial action had not affected services.
APESMA senior industrial officer Alison Rose said there was concern that the substitute managers had little or no experience with Qantas’ fleet of double-decker superjumbo Airbus A380 aircraft — the aircraft which was stranded on the tarmac last night.
Passengers on last night’s flight said the landing seemed routine at first. Ramy Filo, 48, said it was only after the landing he realised that the situation could have been dangerous.
