Qantas plane makes emergency landing due to engine failure soon after takeoff

A really jolting shudder went through the plane,

passenger Mark Willacy, a journalist with the Australian broadcaster ABC News, told his network, adding

Qantas engineers have conducted a preliminary inspection of the engine and confirmed it was a contained engine failure,

the airline said

We understand this would have been a distressing experience for customers and we will be contacting all customers this afternoon to provide support,

he said in the statement

ARFF crews quickly attended the grassfire and extinguished it,

a spokesperson said, referring to Aviation Rescue Fire Fighting Service (ARFF).

It wasn’t the bang or the shudder that made my blood run cold. It was the plane’s urgent struggle to get altitude,

he wrote on ABC

We knew immediately something was wrong, but what was more disturbing, I think, was the plane really laboured after that,

he said

One of our flights to Brisbane experienced a suspected engine failure after take-off from Sydney Airport this afternoon,

Qantas said in a statement published at 1:50 p.m. local time, adding

It's not clear at this stage if the two incidents are linked and investigations are continuing,

the statement continued

Earlier today a Brisbane bound flight made an emergency-return to Sydney Airport, landing safely just after 1pm. This departure of aircraft coincided with a grass fire along the eastern side of the airport’s parallel runway, which was brought under control by teams from the Aviation Rescue Fire Fighting Service,

a Sydney airport spokesperson said

While customers would have heard a loud bang, there was not an explosion,

Tobiano said

The cause of the technical issue remains under investigation,

the spokesperson said

Our pilots are highly trained to handle situations like this and the aircraft landed safely after the appropriate procedures were conducted,

Mr Tobiano added

One of the engines appeared to have gone. The pilot came on 10 minutes later to explain that they had a problem with a right-hand engine on take-off,

she told local outlet Channel Nine

We were taking off, and we heard a bang ... one of the engines appeared to have gone,

she told Nine News

We will also be conducting an investigation into what caused the engine issue,

he added