Hero pilot declares Airbus A380 'indestructible' and 'absolutely safe'

The pilot who managed to land a new Airbus A380 after one of its engines exploded in mid-air has declared the aircraft "absolutely safe".

Captain Richard de Crespigny was hailed a hero when he managed to land the Qantas aircraft after the engine exploded over Singapore, resulting in more than 60 separate system failures. He said the Airbus flew on almost normally, despite one of its wings being "clusterbombed".

"No aircraft is ever designed to take the beating that this aircraft got," Mr de Crespigny told Australia's 60 Minutes TV show. "The wing was clusterbombed, the aircraft had phenomenal damage to all systems - and it didn't just recover, it performed brilliantly. It is indestructible."

Just minutes into the Qantas QF32 flight from Singapore on 4 November last year there was a small oil leak in the intermediate pressure turbine of engine number two. The oil ignited, causing a turbine disk to explode at high speed. Two pieces smashed through the wing, severing the plane's controls, while a third did the same underneath the aircraft.

"Electrically the left hand side of the aircraft was dead. We'd lost 50 per cent of the hydraulics system. The brakes underneath the wings were reduced to 30 per cent braking conditions."

The pilot added: "I think a Rolls-Royce engine has never failed so spectacularly… there was so much collateral damage."

Qantas is now completely confident Rolls-Royce has fixed the engine fault on the jet.