Pilots of a Qantas plane full of terrified passengers have been forced to switch off the engine mid-flight and make an emergency landing after a tire blowout.
Flight QF781 took off from Melbourne’s Tullamarine Airport on Monday evening at around 8.30pm, bound for Perth.
The four-hour flight was preparing to descend into Perth when passengers heard a loud bang before being told the engine had failed.
Another passenger described the sound as an exploding tire.
The pilots manually switched off the engine and gave a warning for a priority landing.
Flight QF781 was preparing to descend to Perth when its engine blew
The Airbus A330-200 aircraft landed safely in Perth, but was met by emergency services on the tarmac and escorted to the arrival gate as a precaution.
A photo taken by a passenger on board showed the plane on the tarmac next to a fire truck.
“Pilot and crew on board did a fantastic job, plane landed safely and everyone is safe,” the Bell Tower Times caption read.
“That’s a story for grandchildren.”
Passengers praised pilots and crew for the way the fear in the air was handled.
“That landing was very smooth as we lost an engine on descent,” one woman wrote on X
‘But grateful that I landed, because it was scary to sit through that. Yes, I cried the whole time and no, I’m not going to book a flight anytime soon.’
All crew members and passengers disembarked without further incident.
Qantas engineers will now examine the engine to determine what caused the blowout.
“The pilots followed procedures for these types of incidents, manually shutting down the engine and requesting a priority landing,” a spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia.
“These aircraft are designed to operate safely with one engine.
‘We know this would have been distressing to the customers on board and we thank them for their cooperation and understanding.’
The plane landed safely in Perth, but was met by fire trucks on the tarmac