Qantas flight to Fiji forced to turn back after ‘potential mechanical issue’
A Qantas flight to Fiji was forced to return to Sydney Airport on Thursday after the aircraft’s fault indicators signalled a potential mechanical issue. QF101 from Sydney to Nadi spent close to two hours circling off the coast of NSW as it awaited a slot before landing at about 10.50am AEDT. The grounded flight is the second incident for the airline in two days, after an engine failure on a Boeing 737-838 travelling to Sydney from Auckland resulted in a temporary mayday alert on Wednesday. A Qantas spokesperson said the aircraft’s pilots returned the Boeing 737-800 headed for Fiji as a precaution in keeping with the carrier’s safety guidelines, and did not indicate an emergency situation. “The pilots followed standard procedures and the aircraft has landed normally in Sydney.” The twin-engine aircraft was not given priority landing by AirServices Australia – the government body that regulates Australia’s skies – as it was not an emergency situation. Fault indicators are lights inside the cockpit, which illuminate automatically in response to a potential hazard. The fault indicator prompting the pilots to turn back did not relate to an issue with the engine. The airline’s engineers will now examine the aircraft. The Qantas spokesperson said the carrier was working on organising a new flight to Fiji for the affected passengers and thanked them for their patience. In the days before Christmas, a Qantas Sydney-to-London flight via Singapore was forced to make an emergency landing in Azerbaijan after pilots observed a fault indicator in the cockpit. This occurred due to a faulty fire sensor in the cargo hold.<br/>
https://portal.staralliance.com/cms/news/hot-topics/2023-01-19/oneworld/qantas-flight-to-fiji-forced-to-turn-back-after-2018potential-mechanical-issue2019
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Qantas flight to Fiji forced to turn back after ‘potential mechanical issue’
A Qantas flight to Fiji was forced to return to Sydney Airport on Thursday after the aircraft’s fault indicators signalled a potential mechanical issue. QF101 from Sydney to Nadi spent close to two hours circling off the coast of NSW as it awaited a slot before landing at about 10.50am AEDT. The grounded flight is the second incident for the airline in two days, after an engine failure on a Boeing 737-838 travelling to Sydney from Auckland resulted in a temporary mayday alert on Wednesday. A Qantas spokesperson said the aircraft’s pilots returned the Boeing 737-800 headed for Fiji as a precaution in keeping with the carrier’s safety guidelines, and did not indicate an emergency situation. “The pilots followed standard procedures and the aircraft has landed normally in Sydney.” The twin-engine aircraft was not given priority landing by AirServices Australia – the government body that regulates Australia’s skies – as it was not an emergency situation. Fault indicators are lights inside the cockpit, which illuminate automatically in response to a potential hazard. The fault indicator prompting the pilots to turn back did not relate to an issue with the engine. The airline’s engineers will now examine the aircraft. The Qantas spokesperson said the carrier was working on organising a new flight to Fiji for the affected passengers and thanked them for their patience. In the days before Christmas, a Qantas Sydney-to-London flight via Singapore was forced to make an emergency landing in Azerbaijan after pilots observed a fault indicator in the cockpit. This occurred due to a faulty fire sensor in the cargo hold.<br/>
