Steering problems forced a Qantas A380 to twice abandon takeoff from London Heathrow Airport this weekend.
Flight QF10 was scheduled to depart London at 9:30 pm local time on Saturday but had to return to a maintenance bay twice after pilots identified a problem while taxiing. Accounts posted by passengers on Twitter said the superjumbo jet veered off the tarmac and onto the grass, but Qantas denied that.
The flight, carrying nearly 400 people, eventually took off without incident at 2 am on Sunday, Qantas said.
Qantas grounded one of its A380s for repairs last week after hairline cracks were discovered inside its wings. Similar cracks have been discovered in a large number of the jets, leading the European air safety regulator to order inspections of the entire A380 fleet.
