SINGAPORE: Qantas grounded its Airbus A380 fleet after one of the superjumbo jets blew out an engine Thursday, shooting flames and raining large metal chunks before making a safe emergency landing in Singapore with 459 people aboard. It was most serious midair incident involving the double-decker A380, the world's largest and latest airliner, since it debuted in October 2007 with Singapore Airlines flying it to Sydney – the same route that Qantas flight QF34 was flying when it was stricken. Qantas said there had been no explosion, but witnesses aboard the plane and on the ground reported blasts. Officials in Indonesia said the engine trouble could not have been related to recent volcanic eruptions of Mount Merapi, some 800 miles (1,300 kilometers) to the east. After the plane touched down in Singapore, the engine closest to the fuselage on the left wing had visible burn marks and was missing a plate section that would have been painted with the red kangaroo logo of the airline. The upper part of the left wing also appeared damaged. Although it was nearly 90 minutes from the time of the explosion to the plane landing, there was no panic inside the aircraft, she said. The captain addressed the passengers immediately by saying “I'm sure you realize there's a problem. We have to find out what the problem is,” she said. Shortly after that, the captain explained that an engine had failed and needed to dump fuel before landing. The trouble with one of the plane's four engines happened 15 minutes after takeoff from Singapore at 9:56 A.M. The plane landed after one hour and 50 minutes. Qantas spokeswoman Emma Kearns in Sydney said there were no injuries or an explosion on board. The airline described the problem as an “engine issue” without elaborating. “We will suspend those A380 services until we are completely confident that Qantas safety requirements have been met,” Qantas CEO Alan Joyce told a news conference. Joyce appeared to blame the engine, made by Rolls-Royce. “This issue, an engine failure, has been one that we haven't seen before. So we are obviously taking it very seriously, because it is a significant engine failure,” he said.
