Qantas jumbo jet hit by bird strike

A Qantas Boeing 747 had to turn back to Johannesburg after one of its engines suffered a bird strike, the airline said yesterday, the latest in a string of incidents to beset the Australian carrier.

Qantas said the plane’s number two engine lost power after sucking in a bird shortly after take-off late on Tuesday, with damaged turbines forcing an unplanned landing. There were 171 passengers on board.

“The aircraft is being worked on by engineers,” a Qantas spokes­man said.

“It’s just a bit of damage to some of the turbine blades, it’s not a huge thing.”

One of Qantas’ smaller Boeing 717s was hit by lightning on a regional flight between the Australian destinations of Alice Springs and Darwin hours earlier, causing “minor damage” to the exterior.

The incidents follow the return to Sydney of a Qantas Boeing 747 bound for Buenos Aires on Monday after it suffered an electrical fault which caused smoke to pour into the cockpit.

Qantas has been plagued with mechanical issues since grounding its fleet of Airbus A380s after an engine exploded on one of the superjumbos on November 4, forcing an emergency landing in Singapore.

A Boeing 747 had to turn back to Singapore with a sparking engine the following day, and a Melbourne-bound Boeing 767 returned to the west coast city of Perth with engine vibration a week later.

Qantas said yesterday it hoped to have the A380 back in service “as soon as possible” but declined to give a timeframe for it.

“We are working with Rolls-Royce to identify which engines need replacement components, or to be replaced altogether, as part of our inspection process,” the spokesman said, referring to the engine manufacturer.

Qantas experienced bird strikes two or three times a year and it was a “pretty rare occurrence”, he added.