Passengers of Emirates flight 413 have been safely returned to Sydney after the Airbus A380 aircraft bound for Dubai experienced engine failure at approximately 10,000 feet in the air during the flight.
A flash of light initially mistaken for lightning reportedly accompanied an apparent explosion of one of the engines which shook the aircraft. The light supposedly illuminated the entire interior of the Airbus A380 aircraft as passengers reported that flames shot out of the defective engine.
According to a spokesperson for Emirates, an “engine fault” was the cause of the incident. Emirates supposedly denies that there was a fire involved with the engine fault.
However, this was not the only incident involving an engine on an Airbus A380 flown by Emirates. There are two other reported incidents where an engine of an Airbus A380-800 aircraft was shut down during or after take-off.
A similar incident occurred on a Qantas flight two years ago, as reported by The Gate. That incident also involved an Airbus A380 aircraft. It is important to note that the engine on the Qantas flight was manufactured by Rolls Royce, while the engine on the Emirates flight was manufactured by a joint venture between General Electric and Pratt & Whitney — initially eliminating a potentially disturbing trend of related engine failure incidents on Airbus A380 aircraft.
With 27 aircraft in its fleet, Emirates is the largest operator of Airbus A380 aircraft in the world.