Qantas flight to London is forced to make an emergency landing in Azerbaijan
- The flight was headed to London from Singapore before emergency landing
- Cause of the emergency unclear but plane was met by fire and rescue teams
- There are 356 passengers travelling on-board the plane and they were removed
A Qantas flight carrying 356 passengers was forced to make an emergency landing in central Asia.
The QF1 flight departed from Sydney to land in London’s Heathrow Airport with a stopover in Singapore on Friday.
However, the flight called in a 7700 emergency signal while flying over Georgia some nine and a half hours after it left Singapore.
The A380 aircraft, the world’s biggest passenger carrier, requires very specific airport conditions and was cleared to land in Baku’s Heydar Aliyev Airport in Azerbaijan.
QF1 made the unscheduled landing at Baku Airport en route to Heathrow after an intermittent fault indicator lit up in the cockpit (pictured, the Qantas airplane forced to land)
The plane was met by an emergency fire crew upon landing at about 7am local time with local outlet Trend News Agency reporting the plane had smoke in its cargo hold.
Qantas have not yet confirmed why the plane was grounded.
A flight plan has been lodged for Baku to London which suggests it could be grounded until 4pm local time – meaning passengers face a seven-hour delay.
‘Our flight from Singapore to London has made an unscheduled landing at Baku Airport in Azerbaijan after pilots received an intermittent fault indicator in the cockpit,’ said a spokeswoman.
‘Engineers will inspect the aircraft prior to continuing its journey.’
It’s unclear what the cause of the emergency was but the plane was met by fire and rescue teams upon landing (pictured, Heydar Aliyev Airport in Baku, Azerbajian)
There has never been a fatal crash involving a Qantas plane, which causes fears whenever one comes into difficulty.
In November 2010, a Qantas flight from London to Sydney via Singapore was forced to make an emergency landing in Indonesia after one of its engines failed.
The fault occurred just four minutes after the plane had left Singapore and the failure was the first of its kind for the A380, the world’s largest passenger aircraft.
More to follow
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