A Qantas Boeing 747-400 operating a flight to Sydney suffered an uncontained engine failure inflight on August 31, forcing the crew to return to San Francisco.
Operating as QF74 with 212 passengers and 18 crew on board, 747-438 VH-OJP was understood to be at an altitude of 25,000ft approximately 15-20 minutes into the flight when the crew noted excessive vibration in the aircraft’s number four engine. The crew shut down the engine and then elected to dump fuel and made a priority return to San Francisco where the aircraft landed safely.
Photos of the aircaft’s number four engine show a hole in the engine’s cowling, indicating an uncontained failure of the Rolls-Royce RB211 engine.
