Aviation news: Qantas 747 makes emergency landing in Sydney

(eTN) – Qantas flight QF17 departing Sydney, Australia, and bound for Buenos Aires today (Monday, November 15, 2010), had to turn back for an emergency landing just a little over an hour into the flig

(eTN) – Qantas flight QF17 departing Sydney, Australia, and bound for Buenos Aires today (Monday, November 15, 2010), had to turn back for an emergency landing just a little over an hour into the flight when pilots detected smoke in the cockpit.

The flight, which had 220 on board – 199 passengers and 21 crew – landed safely in Sydney at 1:22 pm.

A Qantas spokesperson said, “At the moment, we don’t know what caused [Monday’s] issue but believe it is a minor technical fault.”

Engineers believe the cause of the smoke may be due to an electrical meltdown behind the instrument panel.

This makes the third emergency landing for Qantas this month. On November 4, the airline was forced to land an A380 due to partial disintegration of an engine caused by an oil fire. Two days later, one of its 747s had to land in Singapore due to engine failure as well.

Qantas is working with Rolls Royce, the engine manufacturer, on a program to modify or replace relevant modules.

About the author

Avatar of Linda Hohnholz

Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

Share to...