Where it all went wrong on flight QF74

The hole in the engine of the stricken aircraft. Source: AdelaideNow

The fearful vision of sparks flying from the engine. Picture: Emily Brisciani Source: AdelaideNow

The passengers appear calm despite the tense situation. Picture: Emily Brisciani Source: AdelaideNow

A Qantas crew member tells passengers that the flight is returning to San Francisco. Picture: Emily Brisciani Source: AdelaideNow

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The pilots felt a shudder just 15 minutes into the flight and immediately began to turn the plane around, dumping fuel into the Pacific Ocean as a safety measure, airline officials said.

The 212 passengers felt a sharp jolt as one of the Boeing 747's engines failed, forcing the pilots to declare an emergency about 45 minutes into the flight.

Dramatic pictures show a gaping hole in the casing that surrounds one of two engines under the right wing.

Passengers applauded when the plane landed safely in San Francisco, about one hour and 40 minutes after it had taken off.

They disembarked as normal from a sheltered bridge linking the plane with the terminal. Passenger Nolan Goldstein told a local television station she "heard a thud, a bump and the plane veered off to the left".

"It was very uncertain for a period of time until the captain announced that we had an engine that blew up . . . it was a real uncomfortable vibration at first and then the plane began to shake a bit," she said.

Another said those on board were remarkably cool as they saw what she thought were flames leap from the problem engine on the 1992-model plane.

"All these flames just came out of the engine like it was on fire," the woman said. "You knew it wasn't normal but everyone was calm. You've got to stay calm in situations like that."

Qantas spokesman Simon Rushton said there was no fire, but an engine surge could create the illusion of flames. "Engineers have determined the engine does need replacement, and they are checking to see what caused the problem," he said.

Qantas, which is flying a replacement engine to the US, will conduct its own investigation with Australia's Civil Aviation Safety Authority. "Certainly the engine failed, but what caused that failure is something that's going to take some time to determine," an airline spokesman said.

The US Federal Aviation Administration would oversee the Australian investigation to ensure the Qantas plane would be fit to fly in US airspace in future, spokesman Mike Fergus said.

It was the second Qantas incident in a week.

On Friday, a Qantas aircraft made an emergency landing in Manila after part of its undercarriage blew off during a flight from Hong Kong to Melbourne.