A photo taken on August 20, 2023 shows the wing-tip of a Qantas Airbus A330 descending to land at Sydney´s Kingsford Smith Airport. Photo: WILLIAM WEST/AFP
By Ruby Littler and Declan Bowring for ABC News
Qantas passengers flying from Melbourne to Perth have suffered a scare as pilots were forced to manually shut down one of the plane's engines.
Flight QF781 was on its way into Perth when the Airbus A330-200 started experiencing issues on its descent on Monday night.
The pilot issued a PAN call, meaning possible assistance needed, and shut down one of the plane's engines.
One passenger said they heard a loud noise that was like a tyre bursting.
The plane landed safely without incident at 9:37pm and a Qantas spokesperson said all protocols were followed.
"The pilots followed the procedures for this type of incident and manually shut down the engine and requested a priority landing," the spokesperson said.
"These aircraft are designed to safely operate with one engine."
The plane taxied to its gate after landing and passengers disembarked normally.
Bang 'unsettling': passenger
One of the passengers on board the flight, Darrell Weekes, said there was a "very, very loud bang" and shudder from the left-hand side of the aircraft.
"All of a sudden, cabin crew were scurrying around and opening up curtains and making preparations for landing without the captain coming on the airwaves," he told ABC Radio Sydney.
The captain then told passengers they had lost an engine, Weekes said.
"It's very unsettling to have a large bang and know that you're only flying on one engine," he said.
Weekes said in 16 years of flying out of Melbourne for FIFO work, he had never experienced anything like it.
Qantas has thanked passengers for their cooperation and said it understood it would have been unsettling.
Engineers are inspecting the aircraft.
Australian and International Pilots Association president Tony Lucas said events like this were unlikely.
"This incident demonstrates that having two well-rested and well-trained pilots on the flight deck is the best safety feature available to aviation," he said.
"These types of incidents are extremely rare. The safety of our passengers, crew and cargo is always the priority for any pilot and we rigorously train for these unlikely scenarios."
- This story was first published by ABC News
