The light was inadvertently left inside a jet after maintenance. (ABC News: Alison Xiao)
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 in which a large tool was left inside a Qantas A380 engine and was 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".
The light was found in the wing of the plane during work on the aircraft's air conditioning system. (Supplied: ATSB)
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.
Angus Mitchell says the light was not found during a "foreign object clearance" inspection. (Supplied: ATSB)
"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".
