Qantas airplane suffers engine problem in flight

updated 9:54 a.m. ET Aug. 14, 2008

WELLINGTON, New Zealand - A Qantas Airways flight landed safely Wednesday night after a problem with one of its engines on a flight from Australia to New Zealand, the company said, the latest in a series of mechanical incidents for the airline.

One of four engines on a Boeing 747-300 from Melbourne was "reduced to idle" speed while the airplane approached Auckland Airport on Wednesday night, Qantas spokeswoman Holly Williams said.

However, the pilot managed to land the aircraft with 219 passengers and 16 crew safely, she told The Associated Press, blaming the problem on a "faulty fuel-flow regulator."

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Also Wednesday, Australia's airline safety body expanded an investigation of Qantas after the company announced it temporarily pulled six Boeing 737-400 airplanes from service because of irregularities in maintenance records.

Wednesday's problems were the latest in a spate of incidents for the airline since one of its planes made an emergency landing in Manila last month after an explosion tore a large hole in the fuselage. Nobody was hurt in that mid-air incident.

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