Wheel problems force Brisbane-bound Qantas jumbo to return to Singapore

A QANTAS jumbo carrying more than 340 passengers was forced to return to Singapore after its wheels refused to retract early this morning.

An airline spokeswoman confirmed flight QF52, which had been scheduled to land in Brisbane at 6.30am today was forced to return to Changi airport 48 minutes after take-off. She said passengers had been briefed on the mishap aboard the Boeing 747-400 jumbo and were put up at hotels overnight.

No one was injured in the incident and the plane has been checked over and the faulty part replaced, ready to take off at noon local time (2pm Brisbane) today. It was expected to arrive in Brisbane at 9pm with the 344 passengers from its first attempt.

It is the latest in a string of incidents for the airline, with a series of mid air alerts early in the year. In January, engine troubles forced a Qantas flight to land in Bangkok, hours after another plane flying from Adelaide to Melbourne plummeted 8000m during an emergency descent.

That same month, a trans-Pacific flight was forced to divert to Fiji for repairs due to an engine problem while another Qantas flight to Los Angeles had an engine failure as it was preparing to take off at Sydney airport.

Most dramatically, in November, one of the four Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engines on an Airbus A380 exploded mid-air soon after take-off from Singapore, prompting Qantas to ground its entire A380 fleet.

The day after the A380 accident occurred, a Qantas 747-400 had a mid-air incident, with flames bursting from an engine just after take-off from Singapore.

The airline has also faced threats of strikes by long-haul pilots and aircraft engineers.

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