Aus-bound Emirates flight flies for nearly 14 hours with hole in its side

 

In a rather shocking instance, a Australia-bound Emirates flight flew for nearly 14 hours with a large hole in its side.

According to the Australian newspaper The Courier Mail the crew and passengers heard a large blast shortly after the flight took off from Dubai on July 1. However, the flight continued its journey to Brisbane.

As per reports the crew contacted air traffic control at Brisbane airport requesting emergency services assuming that they had blown a tyre during takeoff.

When it landed, engineers found a large hole on the side of the plane.

A spokesperson for Emirates told The Independent that the aircraft experienced a “technical fault” when one of its 22 tires ruptured during cruise. This caused “damage to a small portion of the aerodynamic fairing, which is an outer panel or the skin of the aircraft,” the spokesperson said.

“At no point did it have any impact on the fuselage, frame, or structure of the aircraft. The aircraft landed safely in Brisbane and all passengers disembarked as scheduled,” the spokesperson added.

The airline said the fairing had been completely replaced, checked, and cleared by engineers, as well as Airbus and all relevant authorities.

According to the flight tracking services FlightAware and FlightRadar, the plane returned to Dubai on Sunday.