Sydney, Aug 26 (FN Agency) A Qantas 787 Dreamliner has suffered damage after tread from a wheel was propelled into a wing during take-off from Rome. Qantas, Australia’s flag carrier, on Monday confirmed that a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner has been temporarily removed from service while inspections and repairs are undertaken. The long-haul aircraft suffered cracks in paneling and a flap when a tread separated from its tire and was propelled at high velocity into one of its wings. The incident occurred during take-off for Qantas Flight QF6 from Rome’s Leonardo da Vinci International Airport to Perth Airport in Western Australia on Aug. 23 with 195 passengers on board. Qantas said that pilots and the rest of the crew were unaware of the damage during the 16-hour flight and that it was only discovered by engineers in Perth on Aug. 24.
A subsequent onward flight by the aircraft to Sydney on Aug. 24 was canceled, with passengers put on other services, as was a scheduled return flight the Boeing 787-9 was scheduled to take from Melbourne to Los Angeles on Tuesday. The aircraft will instead be flown to Sydney or Melbourne without passengers for inspections and repairs before being returned to service. Qantas also on Monday announced it has resumed non-stop flights from Perth to London, the airline’s longest flight at 17.5 hours, after the service was diverted through Singapore for two weeks to avoid Middle East airspace due to tensions in the region. Flights from London to Perth continued to run directly during the disruption while non-stop flights from Perth to Paris and Rome operated non-stop in both directions.