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TERRIFIED Emirates passengers hear 'loud bang' as airplane suffers massive hole caused by loose bolt

The incident took place on Friday, July 1, 45 minutes after the Emirates airplane flying from Dubai to Brisbane took off

Passengers on an Emirates flight were left absolutely horrified after hearing a loud bang after a loose bolt ripped a massive hole in the side of the Airbus A380 plane. The incident happened 45 minutes after take-off on Friday, July 1, and the customers traveling from Dubai to Brisbane were left surprised.

The 14-hour trip did not see any further problems, and the cabin crew reportedly remained calm. The passengers were shocked on seeing a gaping hole in the side of the plane after landing at the Brisbane International Airport at around 11 pm. Images posted online show the aircraft ripped open because of the hole. As per reports, it was caused by a bolt detached in the nose gear.

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The passengers were flabbergasted on finding out that they had flown more than 7,000 miles on the Emirates EK40 flight with such a huge hole in its fuselage just under the wing. Patrick, a passenger on the flight, told Courier Mail, "There was a loud bang and I felt it through the floor as well. The cabin crew remained calm, stopped the food service and got on the phone, and checked the wings, engines."

"No one freaked out and when it was apparent that we were still flying OK the flight continued as normal. The sound was different, the wind noise pitch had changed. On landing, we all clapped the crew," he added. Another traveler named Chris revealed, "Before we landed they told us we had to land on a different runway and get an engineer to inspect the plane for a suspected landing gear problem."

"Landing felt really smooth. Then with the engine powered down, we had to be towed. So surprised to see a hole in the side now!! Thankful it wasn't any worse," he said. Aviation industry veteran, Geoffrey Thomas told the portal that passengers were never in any danger because although the gaping hole looked "spectacularly dramatic" but had no structural impact on the jet whatsoever. "What was punctured was an aerodynamic fairing."

He explained, "When you have a wing and it joins the fuselage, it's a very structured heavy duty piece, but it's all square, so they put what's called aerodynamic fairing over it to smooth it all out. It's usually made of fibreglass, and it's nonstructural, non-pressurized, and has no structural significance whatsoever, none. It appears as though they blew a tyre on take off from Dubai and it appears as though some part flew off the tyre and punctured the fuselage."

Thomas further added, "Because it (the plane surface) looks smooth with these aerodynamic fairings, if a bolt or something goes through it, it looks spectacularly dramatic and frightening, but it's not. And that speaks to the A380 design."

An Emirates spokesperson told Daily Mail, "Our flight EK430 flying from Dubai to Brisbane on July 1 experienced a technical fault during cruise." "The aircraft landed safely in Brisbane and all passengers disembarked as scheduled. The aircraft will remain in Brisbane for assessment and repairs. The safety of our passengers and crew has always been our top priority," the statement concluded.