A suspected engine issue on a Qantas flight that departed from Queenstown, New Zealand, prompted panic as the aircraft diverted to Christchurch.
Passengers reported hearing loud bangs and seeing flames shooting from one engine on the Sydney, Australia-bound flight.
According to The Guardian, one of the passengers shouted “the engine’s on fire.”
“It happened around five times, so we hear bang, bang, bang and there was five times fire coming out,” another passenger told ABC.
A bird strike is believed to have caused the scary incident.
Watch below:
WATCH: Terrifying video captures flames shooting from the engine of a Sydney-bound Qantas flight following a reported bird strike, forcing the plane to divert. pic.twitter.com/fFADe6C1mD
— Fox News (@FoxNews) September 6, 2026
More from The Guardian:
Footage recorded by a passenger and shared with AAP shows flames appearing to issue from the plane’s left engine in a series of rapid bursts.
“I was sitting on the left-hand side of the plane, and the flames were very, very visible,” Loch said.
“There was a lot of screaming at the time.”
As the plane continued to gain altitude, Loch tried to comfort herself by recalling that modern jets could land safely on a single engine.
“That’s what I kept in my head, that we could actually fly on one engine,” she said.
“But the flames kept coming and the noise kept coming.”
Qantas flight QF122 suffered a suspected engine issue shortly after taking off from Queenstown on Saturday afternoon, before making a priority landing at Christchurch.
According to FlightAware, the Boeing 737 landed about 52 minutes after takeoff, touching down shortly before 5pm local time.
One of the passengers told ABC the cabin crew initially blamed the landing gear for the emergency.
“So we were like, ‘No, it’s actually fire coming out of the engine, it’s not landing gear,'” the passenger told the outlet.
“So the plane was shaking as well. So it was fire and then went straight into shaking; it was just so scary,” the passenger added.
Watch below:
Passengers on a Qantas flight that had to be diverted mid-air when flames sparked from the engine say they screamed with terror. A replacement plane landed back in Sydney this afternoon with those on board revealing what happened as the drama unfolded over New Zealand. pic.twitter.com/pUG4bPFlIG
— 7NEWS Sydney (@7NewsSydney) September 6, 2026
ABC shared further:
Sari-Elle Kraemer, who was sitting on the right-hand side of the plane, said there was a lot of nervous energy on board, especially after the lights went off.
While she could not see the fire, she could hear other passengers talking about it and did not know what to think.
“I’ve never experienced something like that,” Ms Kraemer said.
“Just the noise and the fact that people could see fire on the plane was scary, but obviously the pilots are trained to deal with that, and I felt it was under control after a few minutes.”
Throughout the ordeal, passengers were kept informed of what was happening.
Ms Sethi said the flight’s captain told passengers in one announcement that the plane had experienced a chemical failure with the engines, forcing the aircraft to make an emergency landing in Christchurch.
Fire engines and emergency services were on hand at the tarmac.
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