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Firefighters who responded to a grassfire at Sydney Airport last week said they found pieces of metal on the side of a runway near where a Qantas flight suffered engine failure.
Brisbane-bound QF520 made an emergency landing at the airport on Friday after the Boeing 737-800's right engine experienced a "contained engine failure".
The pilots managed to take-off from Runway 34R with just a single working engine.
Airservices Australia’s Aviation Rescue and Fire Fighting Service Superintendent Mark Jenkins said firefighters located fingernail-sized metal pieces in knee-deep grass near the runway.
The grassfire stretched along the majority of Sydney Airport runway 34R. (ABC News)
"They were finding small little pieces of metal but we couldn't say that that was from that actual aircraft," Superintendent Jenkins said.
"It's very unusual that you'd have particles of metal all the way along the runway down the side."
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) said it had collected blades and other engine fragments from the runway and were investigating the incident.
Fire engulfed grass two-thirds the length of runway
Superintendent Jenkins said the incident was deemed a full emergency, so an aerodrome emergency plan was activated, requiring the support of Fire and Rescue NSW and NSW Ambulance.
He said 16 firefighters battled the blaze which was fanned by westerly winds and stretched beside the majority of the 2.4-kilometre runway.
"A good portion of the runway — so the majority of the side of the runway — had some sort of fire at it," he said.
"It was probably two-thirds of the runway … it's probably about two-thirds of the distance, just from the visual from the fire station."
Superintendent Jenkins said his crews worked to protect the critical equipment on the side of the runway which help aircraft land safely.
This included "radar equipment and a lot of electrical cabling, lighting and all sorts of things down the side of the runway that people don't really take too much notice of".
Superintendent Mark Jenkins said his team performed "absolutely impeccably". (Supplied: Mark Jenkins)
He praised his team who performed "absolutely impeccably".
"They had a lot of pressure on them — which given those circumstances [of] ... an aircraft with an emergency on board — is challenging for anyone," he said.
"They're highly trained, they're highly committed, they're highly motivated … they train like their family is involved in the incident.
"The team just backed up and did everything by the book, so yeah … highly, highly proud of the teams there. All the crews at the airport just performed like absolute legends."
Investigation will be 'extremely detailed'
Former Civil Aviation Safety Authority manager of airline operations Ron Bartsch told the ABC it was likely the debris was from the Boeing 737 in question.
Australian airports, including Sydney, had "strict" protocols to ensure runways and taxiways were clear of foreign object debris (FOD), Professor Bartsch said.
"FOD is a very important aspect and Sydney Airport will be very diligent to make sure that there's not resulting FOD on the runway.
"If there's small fragments in the grass area on the side of the runway, that won't cause an operation risk to aircraft."
Ron Bartsch said ATSB will examine the history of the aircraft involved. (ABC News: Patrick Thomas)
Professor Bartsch said it was up to the ATSB to look at all aspects of the incident, including the pilot and first officer's response.
"They will also examine the history of the airworthiness and continuing airworthiness aspects of the aircraft and all engineering aspects," he said.
"They will also examine the actions of the crew on the day, they'll examine the voice recorder and they'll examine the flight data recorder.
"The investigation by the ATSB will be extremely detailed, particularly seeing as this involves a commercial air transport-type aircraft."