Stephen Fry tweets as Qantas jetliner runs into trouble

ACTOR and avid Twitter fan Stephen Fry was caught up in a mid-air drama this morning when his Qantas flight from Singapore to London ran into difficulties and was forced to land in Dubai.
 
The QI host, who had been in Australia promoting the TV show, gave his fans a running commentary of events after the Airbus A380 superjumbo had to shut down one of its four engines in mid-flight because of an oil leak and divert to the Gulf.
 
"Bugger. Forced to land in Dubai. An engine has decided not to play," he announced to his 3.3 million followers. He then sent updates from the airport as the airline struggled to find alternative travel arrangements for the 258 passengers on board.
 
"I think plan is to bus us to the transit lounge and await International Rescue. This plane, the crew tell me, is going nowhere."
 
The incident could not have come at a worse time for Qantas. Last weekend the airline grounded its entire fleet in a row with union and only resumed flights on Monday.
 
To rub salt into the wound the latest drama came a year to the day after a Qantas Airbus A380 was forced to make an emergency landing in Singapore when one of its engines exploded over Indonesia.
 
And Fry may not have helped the airline's reputation when he posted a copy of a letter from the carrier that contained more bad news. It warned passengers that flights to Europe were full and that "there will be an extended delay in transit". To make matters worse the airline had been "unsuccessful in sourcing hotel rooms" in Dubai because of the Eid Al Adha festival.
 
However, Fry was full of praise for the Qantas staff after they reunited him with his wallet, which he had left on the plane after the unexpected landing.
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