Emirates A380 lands in Australia with massive hole in its side

On Saturday, an Emirates flight landed in Brisbane, Australia, after having flown nearly 14 hours with a giant hole in its side.

Some passengers and crew reported hearing a loud band shortly after the Airbus A380-800 departed Dubai on Friday.

Emirates Airbus A380-800, registration A6-EVK performing flight EK-430 from #Dubai to #Brisbane #michelin Tyre’s doing their best here pic.twitter.com/AYvdqy94ZO

— Aviation2500 (@aviation_2500) July 3, 2022

The plane's pilots contacted Brisbane airport requesting emergency services to meet them at the airport according to The Aviation Herald, which tracks safety incidents. The pilots reportedly thought the tire had blown.

Once it landed, engineers managed to spot the gaping hole in its wing route fairing, a part of the plane that works to reduce drag.

The plane is just three years old and some reports suggest the hole was caused by a detached bolt in the nose gear.

Emirates Airbus A380-800, registration A6-EVK performing flight EK-430 from #Dubai to #Brisbane #michelin Tyre’s doing their best here pic.twitter.com/AYvdqy94ZO

— Aviation2500 (@aviation_2500) July 3, 2022

In a statement about the incident, Emirates said the flight had experienced a "technical fault".

"One of the aircraft's 22 tyres ruptured during cruise, causing damage to a small portion of the aerodynamic fairing, which is an outer panel or the skin of the aircraft," it read.

"At no point did it have any impact on the fuselage, frame or structure of the aircraft. The aircraft landed safely in Brisbane and all passengers disembarked as scheduled."

Engineers replaced the fairing, then checked and cleared it, alongside Airbus and other authorities.

The plane returned to Dubai on Sunday according to the flight tracking services FlightAware and FlightRadar.

Twitter user Pontius Pilate has posted a video giving their followers a closer look at the hole. The video was cheekily captioned: "Anyone know the drag fuel factor penalty for this one?"

Anyone know the drag fuel factor penalty for this one? 😳😂 #emirates #a380 pic.twitter.com/uPzsH9KVAk

— Pontius Pilate (@pontius_is_goat) July 2, 2022

There you have it. A closer look at the hole – and yet another reason to grip your armrest and grimace the next time you take off…