An Airbus A380 operating Qantas' flagship kangaroo route was forced to divert to Baku in Azerbaijan earlier today. According to reports, the diversion was prompted by a cargo smoke warning. This caused the pilots to declare an emergency and divert to the nearest suitable airport.

While it is common for an aircraft to divert to a nearby airport if something doesn't go to plan, this presents an additional challenge for Airbus A380 pilots. Given the aircraft's immense size, it can't just land at any airport. Thankfully, Baku's Heydar Aliyev International Airport can take the giant of the skies with one of the biggest runways in the region.

What do we know?

QF1 is a two-part Qantas flight connecting Sydney (SYD) and London Heathrow (LHR) via Singapore (SIN). Yesterday, VH-OQH was assigned to the Sydney to London flight. The segment to Singapore appeared to run on time without incident. At 01:09 this morning, around an hour and 15 minutes behind schedule, the aircraft took to Singapore's skies again.

Things appeared to go as planned for the first nine hours of the 14h20m flight. However, 40 minutes after the aircraft passed Baku, it made a U-turn, flying in the opposite direction to London. Around 30 minutes later, the aircraft, now flying towards Baku, began to squawk 7700, according to data from FlightRadar24.com. This is the international squawk code to signify an emergency situation. The A380 touched down in Baku around an hour after its u-turn and after 10 hours of flight. The giant aircraft was soon surrounded by emergency vehicles.

According to The Sydney Morning Herald, the aircraft's cargo smoke light indicated that there could be smoke in the cargo hold. As smoke could indicate a fire, any warning naturally needs to be taken seriously. Thankfully, it seems as though this was a false alarm. A Qantas spokesperson told Simple Flying,

“Our flight from Singapore to London has made an unscheduled landing at Baku Airport in Azerbaijan after the aircraft intermittently alerted the pilots to the potential of smoke in the cargo hold. Although it was considered likely to be a sensor fault, the aircraft diverted to Baku as a safety precaution. Initial investigations have found no evidence of smoke in the cargo hold. We thank customers for their patience and we are working to get them on their way as quickly as possible.”

Now the challenge will be to get the passengers back onto the aircraft and on their way to London. The SMH also reports that passengers are now in a hotel if they could secure an Azerbaijani visa, but that the aircraft will continue to London Heathrow without its cargo contents. How luggage will make its way to its final destination is unclear.

The airline texted the following message to passengers,

"Thank you for your ongoing patience while we make arrangements in Baku. We have arranged hotel accommodation for you and are working to make the visa process for your entry into Azerbaijan as seamless as possible. Our operations teams are working hard to get you to London as soon as possible, including seeking the necessary regulatory approvals to send a relief aircraft from Australia and looking at sourcing engineering support from London. We will provide further updates by SMS and email as soon as possible."

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About VH-OQH

VH-OQH is a 13.33-year-old Airbus A380, one of 12 delivered to the Australian flag carrier. According to ch-aviation.com, the plane first flew on August 28th, 2009, but didn't get delivered until January 31st, 2011.

With an estimated market value of $36.04 million, the aircraft had clocked 44,097 flight hours (equivalent to 5.03 years) across 3,873 rotations as of September 30th. Qantas was quick to store VH-OQH, with the aircraft flying from Sydney to Melbourne on April 1st, 2020, heading across the Pacific to Victorville on July 13th, 2020. The aircraft left storage on March 3rd of this year, positioning to Abu Dhabi. Following a few months of return-to-service maintenance, it flew to Sydney on July 27th before returning to service with QF11 to Los Angeles on July 29th.

What do you make of this morning's Qantas Airbus A380 diversion? Let us know what you think and why in the comments below by clicking the blue button!

Sources: ch-aviation, FlightRadar24.com, Sydney Morning Herald

• 

  Qantas

  IATA/ICAO Code:

  QF/QFA

  Airline Type:

  Full Service Carrier

  Hub(s):

  Brisbane Airport, Melbourne Airport, Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport

  Year Founded:

  1920

  Alliance:

  oneworld

  CEO:

  Alan Joyce

  Country:

  Australia