A fully laden Qantas jumbo was forced to dump fuel and return to Sydney yesterday after flames were seen trailing from one of its engines.
QF249 had just taken off for Los Angeles with 316 passengers on board when there was a bang and flames came from the right in-board engine. The 747-400’s controls also showed there was a power problem with one of the engines, a Qantas spokesman said.
The Boeing 747 was forced to circle over Sydney for at least one hour because it was carrying enough fuel to reach Los Angeles and needed to burn some more in order to land safely.
Several fire crews were on stand-by at the airport, but the aircraft landed safely without further incident.
