The Bombardier Challenger 604 lost control (Picture: Vanallen.com)

A private plane flipped upside down and plunged 10,000ft after getting caught in the wake turbulence of an Emirates A380, it has been revealed.

The incident saw several people onboard the German plane seriously injured – however, it did not crash.

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Taking place on January 7, the Bombardier Challenger 604 business jet flew 1,000ft below the Airbus flying from Dubai to Sydney in the opposite direction.

The private jet was travelling over the Arabian sea at the time.


Around 60 seconds after the superjumbo Airbus passed by, the wake turbulence hit the jet and sent it into an uncontrolled roll.

The jet fell into an uncontrollable spin (Picture: Leo Delauncey for MailOnline)

In total, the private aircraft flipped between three and five times.



After hitting the wake turbulence, both of the plane’s engines cut out and its Ram Air Turbine would not work, causing it to plunge 10,000ft.

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The pilots, however, managed to regain control using ‘raw muscle force’.

Eventually, they restarted the engines and diverted the flight to Muscat airport in Oman.

Several people of board were rushed to hospital following the emergency landing. One sustained serious injuries.

The A380 caused wake turbulence (Picture: Getty)

What is wake turbulence? Wake turbulence is exacerbated by a pair of vortices that spin from the wingtips. The vortices are mostly created when a plane is flying slow and the wings are working hardest to produce lift. They’re similar to the wake caused by a boat in the water. When a plane is bigger, it creates larger wakes – which explains why the smaller plane flipped. The most virulent wakes leave smaller planes more vulnerable should they run into one. To avoid issues cause by wakes, air traffic controllers are required to put extra spacing between large and small planes.

Despite taking place more than two months ago, the details of the incident only came to light recently in a report by the Aviation Herald.

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The small plane, which was operated by German carrier MHS Aviation, sustained such an amount of damage that it had to be written off.

Germany’s Federal Bureau of Aircraft Accident Investigation (BFU) is investigating the incident, despite it happening in international waters.

Metro.co.uk has contacted the BFU, Emirates Airlines and MHS Aviation for comment.