A journalist describes the moment a Qantas plane suffered an engine failure during take-off from Sydney as an investigation into the incident begins

Emergency crews rushed to Sydney Airport for a grass fire after a Qantas plane suffered an engine failure during takeoff on Friday afternoon.

The Boeing 737 with 174 passengers on board is believed to have taken off from Sydney at about 12:35 p.m.

According to Flight Aware, flight QF520 circled the water for at least 15 minutes before landing back at the airport around 1:06 p.m.

Sydney Airport confirmed the fire has since been brought under control, but warned travelers could face some flight delays as screening takes place on a parallel runway.

ABC journalist Mark Willacy, who was on flight QF520, described the moment he realized something was wrong.

“It wasn’t a shock or a tremor that made my blood run cold. It was an intense struggle for the aircraft to climb,” he said.

He said the plane shook after the wheels came off the asphalt during takeoff.

“As the plane slowly gained altitude, we turned west and continued to roll,” he said.

“We couldn’t hear anything from the cabin, but we knew we weren’t heading to Brisbane. We had a hard time getting back to Sydney Airport.”

As the plane slowly approached the ground, he said, “we saw smoke rising from the ground and fire trucks parked along the runway.”

The grass fire was said to have been caused by an engine fault which forced the Brisbane-bound plane to make an emergency landing in Sydney.

Passengers on board the flight shared videos on social media of the plane landing at the airport after hovering for several minutes, clouds of smoke visible in the air.

Aerial footage of the airport showed smoke billowing into the sky Friday afternoon, as well as several emergency vehicles on the ground.

A Sydney Airport spokesman said the plane returned safely to the airport after an emergency landing, but it was unclear whether the grass fire was related to the plane’s engine failure as investigations continued.

“Earlier today, a Brisbane-bound flight made an emergency return to Sydney Airport and landed safely just after 1pm,” the spokesman said.

“This aircraft departure coincided with a grass fire along the east side of the airport’s parallel runway, which was brought under control by Aviation Rescue Fire Service crews.”

ATSB Chief Commissioner Angus Mitchell confirmed that an investigation into the engine failure incident had been opened.

“A team of transportation safety investigators with experience in aircraft maintenance and operations, materials failure analysis and data recovery have begun the evidence collection phase of this investigation,” he said in a statement.

He said voice and flight data recorders in the aircraft’s cockpit had been quarantined and information extracted from the recorders would be analyzed at the ATSB’s technical facilities in Canberra.

“Other likely investigative activities will include interviewing the flight crew, reviewing operator procedures, reviewing meteorological information, inspecting any relevant engine components and possibly participating in any engine disassembly inspection,” he said.

“Our investigators will now work methodically to gradually establish the sequence of events of the incident and contextual information with a view to identifying contributing factors and any underlying safety issues, which will be detailed in the final investigation report.”