Steering problems forced a Qantas A380 to twice abandon takeoff from London Heathrow Airport this weekend.
Flight QF10 was scheduled to depart London at 9:30 pm local time on Saturday but had to return to a maintenance bay twice after pilots identified a problem while taxiing. Accounts posted by passengers on Twitter said the superjumbo jet veered off the tarmac and onto the grass, but Qantas denied that.
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The flight, carrying nearly 400 people, eventually took off without incident at 2 am on Sunday, Qantas said.
Qantas grounded one of its A380s for repairs last week after hairline cracks were discovered inside its wings. Similar cracks have been discovered in a large number of the jets, leading the European air safety regulator to order inspections of the entire A380 fleet.