An Emirates passenger jet flew for nearly 14 hours with a large hole in its side after a ruptured tire caused damage to its exterior.
According to Business Insider, crew and passengers reported hearing a big blast about 45 minutes after the Airbus A380-800 departed Dubai for Brisbane on Friday.
According to The Aviation Herald, which tracks flight safety events, the plane’s pilots contacted Brisbane airport and requested emergency services meet them there after believing a tire had blown.
Engineers discovered a big hole on the plane’s side when it landed.
According to Dr. Johannes Boroh, a former commercial pilot and senior lecturer in aviation studies at London’s Kingston University, this type of event is rare.
“It’s a one in a million case, probably. It’s something that we don’t see every day.”
According to an Emirates spokesperson, the aircraft had a “technical fault” when one of its 22 tires ruptured during transit. This caused “damage to a small section of the aerodynamic fairing, which is an outside panel or the skin of the plane,” the spokesperson said.
“At no point did it have any impact on the fuselage, frame, or structure of the aircraft. The aircraft landed safely in Brisbane, and all passengers disembarked as scheduled,” the spokesperson added.
According to the airline, the fairing had been thoroughly replaced, verified, and cleared by engineers, Airbus, and all required authorities.
Since planes lack sensors and cameras in the area where the hole appeared, the pilots were reassured that nothing was wrong.
According to experts, the pilots may have performed a third check by contacting Dubai Airport to determine if any jet parts were lost before takeoff. But the runway was devoid of debris, indicating that there was nothing to be concerned about.
No passengers were wounded, and flight EK430 arrived at its destination safely, according to aircraft tracking websites FlightAware and FlightRadar. However, passengers were still terrified of the incident. Some even went to Twitter to express their emotions.
“Was absolutely terrifying at first, and the cabin crew knew something serious may have happened – were immediately in contact with the cockpit,” tweeted Andrew Morris, an English professor at the UK’s Loughborough University.
“Shortly after, they resumed as normal. Their calm demeanor was reassuring — they knew it was not catastrophic.”