Exactly one year after a Qantas A380′s
engine exploded over Indonesia,
another superjumbo has been forced
to divert due to engine trouble.
Flight QF31 from Singapore to London
was diverted to Dubai after an oil problem.
Pilots shut down the number four
engine of the Airbus A380 about 90
minutes after takeoff, Qantas
spokeswoman Olivia Wirth said.
Four pilots, 21 cabin crew and 258 passengers were on board.
The aircraft landed safely in Dubai
4.45am local time without further
incident, the airline said.
Celebrity Stephen Fry is believed to
have been one of the passengers on board QF31. He tweeted to his 3.3
million Twitter followers: “Bugger.
Forced to land in Dubai. An engine has
decided not to play.”
Fry is returning to London after touring
Australia with his TV program QI. It is a year to the day that flight QF32
from London to Sydney was forced to
turn back to Singapore after the A380′s
number two engine exploded, sending
fragments of the turbine disc and other
engine parts into the wing and fuselage.
The airline grounded all of its A380 jets
for several weeks after the incident.
The problem was eventually found to
have been caused by a leak from a
flawed oil pipe. Qantas said the engine explosion and
subsequent grounding of the fleet cost
it an estimated $80 million