A house was hit by small pieces of debris from an A380 jumbo jet after one of its engines exploded shortly after takeoff.
Emirates flight EK413 from Sydney to Dubai was just minutes into its journey on November 11 last year when an engine failed, according to an Australian Transport Safety Bureau report into the incident released on Monday.
The owner of the Sydney property was disturbed by a distant bang at about 10pm, before hearing something land on the roof of their house.
The homeowner reported the incident to police, who later handed the suspected pieces of engine debris to air-safety investigators.
Releasing its final report, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau found the Emirates A380 suffered ”significant internal damage” to one of its four engines.
The A380 had reached about 9,000 feet on its way to Dubai when its pilots heard a loud bang and received a warning that the No.3 engine was overheating. Moments later, the engine shut down automatically.
The pilots turned back for Sydney and dumped fuel before landing safely.
Apart from some metallic material shooting out from the rear of the engine, the bureau said there was no evidence that ”high-energy debris” had escaped during the mid-air scare.
By Ian Jarrett, TravelMole Asia editor
