Qantas flight #QF2 from London Heathrow to Singapore was forced to return due to a technical issue.
The Airbus A380 turned around over Hungary and Slovakia after 2 hours of flight in the night from July 14th to July 15th 2023.
London Gatwick is usually the only airport accepting flights landing that late in the night but the A380 was given permission to perform a heavy landing at 1:24 BST on runway 27L at LHR.
The Qantas plane was surrounded by emergency vehicles before it taxied to the gate, Stand 307.
This particular aircraft (reg. VH-OQI) experienced an autopilot failure during the previous flight to London according to The Aviation Herald.
A passenger said “the plane had a problem when we taxied out at Sydney. Had to stop taxiing and reset something.”
“During landing in Singapore, one of the pilots slammed it on the runway in to Singapore. Hardest landing I’ve experienced for years.”
This A380 performed a test flight on July 6th after being stored at Abu Dhabi.
@BloodyPolitics @brjc301 @aldersonjackson @B_W_Marshall
A pair of big Roos at LHR. One is today's QF1 arrival from Singapore & Sydney. The other is QF2 from last night, which departed, it was flying over Hungary then returned to LHR. Big hotel bill for QF. pic.twitter.com/InQAMpKhJC— Ian (@IanABNe) July 15, 2023
As QF1 arrived early on July 15th, two Qantas A380s are currently on the tarmac at London Heathrow.