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Qantas flights QF7, QF63 return to Sydney after separate issues

Published: August 4 2017 - 8:22PM

Two Qantas long-haul aircraft carrying hundreds of passengers have been forced to return to Sydney after one suffered wing flap problems and the other a crack to the outer pane of a cockpit windscreen just hours into their flights.

A Boeing 747-400 jumbo – Qantas Flight 63 – on its way to Johannesburg in South Africa, departed Sydney just before 11am on Friday before the captain decided while above Tasmania to turn back to Sydney.

An A380 – QF7 – flying to Dallas in the United States, departed at 1.40pm and turned around shortly afterwards, circling off the coast of Wollongong as it dumped fuel.

A bit of a travel delay to get to #BIAconf but thanks @Qantas for getting us back safely to #Sydney pic.twitter.com/GNuPbh8DF2

Complicating matters on Friday, two of the airline's A330 aircraft bound for Jakarta and Bangkok were delayed from taking off due to the need for an engine replacement and repairs to stop a small fuel leak.

The 747, meantime, suffered a crack to the outer pane of a cockpit windscreen during the flight to Johannesburg. The windscreens have three layers of glass, and the aircraft did not suffer any depressurisation.

It landed safely at Sydney Airport shortly before 3.30pm.

In the other incident, the A380 had an issue retracting its wing flaps shortly after take off. While it was not regarded as serious, it would have caused the plane to burn significantly more fuel on the long-haul flight than usual.

In a statement, Qantas said the "mechanical issue" with the A380 would mean "the aircraft can't fly efficiently".

"As the Dallas flight is our longest on the network, the captain made the decision to return to Sydney," it said.

The A330 landed without incident at 4.38pm, and is under inspection by engineers.

Qantas said the 747's cracked pane "did not compromise the integrity of the aircraft".

"The aircraft was safe to continue to Johannesburg but the captain made the decision to return as the windscreen will be replaced at Qantas' engineering base in Sydney," it said.

The airline's A380s can carry 484 passengers, and the jumbos 371. Both flights are believed to have been almost full.

A spokeswoman for Qantas said all passengers would be accommodated or offered transport home before replacement services were organised.

Meanwhile, an A330 aircraft – QF23 – due to depart Sydney at 10am on Friday bound for Bangkok did not take off due to the need for an engine replacement. Passengers booked on the flight were scheduled to board a replacement A330 late on Friday afternoon.

And in a separate incident, another A330 – QF41 – has been delayed departing Sydney by about five hours after a small fuel leak was detected. The plane is now due to depart for Jakarta at 7.20pm.

Chris Quinn, a passenger on QF41, said four incidents in a single day was concerning.

This story was found at: http://www.smh.com.au/business/aviation/qantas-flights-qf7-qf63-return-to-sydney-after-separate-issues-20170804-gxpk3q.html