Qantas A380 flew to US and back with maintenance light left in wing

A work light was left inside the wing of a Qantas A380, which flew multiple international trips before it was found.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) said it was due to a "breakdown" in processes at Qantas.

Qantas has established a "working group" and changed its tool-control procedures.

A Qantas A380 was cleared to fly passengers return from Sydney to Dallas with a large maintenance light accidentally left inside its wing.

It follows a 2023 incident of a large tool being left inside an Qantas A380 engine and not recovered until multiple international trips had been completed.

An Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) investigation found the 33-centimetre light was left behind after maintenance on the aircraft's air-conditioning system in Sydney on January 7.

The aircraft then flew to Dallas-Fort Worth and back before maintenance staff realised the light was missing and recovered it from the wing two days later.

The ATSB's final report into the incident found that although the light did not cause any damage to the wing, foreign objects posed a "significant risk to the safe operation of an aircraft".

ATSB chief commissioner Angus Mitchell said the incident was due to a "breakdown" in tool "accountability processes".

"Even well-established processes can be vulnerable when they rely solely on consistent human performance, particularly during maintenance tasks which are often conducted in challenging environments and under operational pressures," he said.

"Tool control systems and procedures must account for this variability with safeguards to detect and recover from errors."

The report said Qantas issued a safety directive to address changes to its tooling control processes and procedures and had also formed a "tooling working group".

Qantas said the light had no impact on the operation of the aircraft and had voluntarily reported the incident to the ATSB.

"Since the event, we have strengthened our tool-control procedures, including introducing a mandatory pre-clearance check to confirm all tooling is accounted for following maintenance," a spokesperson said.