Engine trouble forces 'wing flap' jumbo to turn back

12.30pm

An Air New Zealand jumbo jet which earlier this month lost a section of wing flap taking off at Auckland Airport was today turned back an hour into a flight from London to Los Angeles.

The 747-700 ZKNBS plane with 358 passengers on board left London's Heathrow Airport at 2.30am (NZT).

It returned to the airport after crew reported a number of large bangs from engine number three and excessive engine temperatures.

In a statement today the airline said the engine was shut down in accordance with normal procedure.

"The captain decided to return to London for an early landing which meant the dumping of fuel. The aircraft landed without incident."

It said a replacement engine had been found, and the aircraft was expected to return to service tomorrow.

"ZK-NBS is the same aircraft that lost a section of flap on take-off from Auckland recently. There were no prior indications of problems with the engine before the event and shut down of that engine," the airline said.

On September 6 a 2m piece of wing flap peeled off the Boeing 747. Fishermen discovered the piece afloat in Manukau Harbour the next morning.

It was the second time in six days that an Air New Zealand wing part had fallen off a 747. The first part, a 10kg "non-structural" panel raised ground-safety concerns after it was found in a Wiri carpark.

A small number of passengers had been placed on a Singapore Airlines flight which left later in the evening United Kingdom time, but the majority were being housed in airport hotels.

Another Air New Zealand 747-700 had left Auckland bound for Los Angeles where it would pickup about 200 passengers due to board NZ1 at Los Angeles.

It would depart Los Angeles at 6.30pm New Zealand time bound for Auckland -- a delay of about eight hours.

The airline said no flights out of New Zealand had been disrupted.

- NZPA, HERALD STAFF