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The Qantas flight to Sydney was forced to turn back and land in Fiji after the crew noticed “vapors” coming out of the aircraft, as major concerns are raised over the airline’s fifth return this week.
- Qantas flight QF102 from Fiji reversed after cabin fumes
- The pilots requested priority return landing on Sunday as a precaution.
- This is the fifth setback for the Australian airline in the last week
A Qantas flight to Sydney returned to Fiji as a precaution after pilots received a report of cabin fumes, days after an Auckland service issued an emergency advisory after an engine died.
The incident, which occurred on Sunday night, is the fifth setback for the airline in the past week.
Pilots on Boeing 737 flight QF102 from Nadi, Fiji, to Sydney requested a priority, non-emergency, landing on Sunday and the plane landed normally.
The first indications were the fumes related to the oven in the kitchen of the plane.
Pilots on Boeing 737 flight QF102 from Nadi, Fiji, to Sydney requested a priority, non-emergency landing on Sunday and the plane landed normally (pictured)
They quickly dissipated and no one was affected.
Engineers will evaluate the aircraft.
Qantas was working to accommodate customers as quickly as possible and thanked them for their patience.
The incident follows a similar event last week.
On Thursday, Qantas said the QF101, a Boeing 737 bound for Nadi, returned to Sydney after an onboard “failure indicator” about a possible mechanical problem.
A Qantas representative told AAP that the pilots followed standard procedures and the aircraft landed normally in Sydney.
The plane returned without an emergency or priority landing and the fault indicator was not related to an engine problem, Qantas said.
The return (pictured) was initiated after an onboard “failure indicator” about a possible mechanical issue, and is the airline’s fifth return this week.
Three Qantas flights were also diverted on Friday: a QantasLink service from Melbourne to Canberra; a Boeing 737-800 from Melbourne to Sydney; and a flight from Adelaide to Melbourne.
On Wednesday, the pilot of QF144, a Boeing 737, from Auckland to Sydney shut down an engine and made a distress call over the Pacific Ocean before landing safely at Sydney’s Kingsford Smith Airport around 3:30pm.
Transportation security investigators confirmed that they would analyze the QF144’s cockpit voice recorder and flight data after the engine failure.
Qantas said the 145 passengers disembarked normally and closures were rare, with pilots trained to handle them safely.
Qantas flight QF102 from Nadi, Fiji to Sydney turned around after receiving a report of cabin fumes (file image)
The Qantas Group averages around 60 air returns per year out of more than 10,000 across the industry.
Qantas domestic chief executive Andrew David has stressed that mechanical problems are common throughout the complicated industry, and individual failures need to be looked at in context.
“Aircraft are complex pieces of machinery with millions of moving parts, and it’s not uncommon to have a problem with one of them,” he said.
“What’s important to know is that the planes are designed with that in mind and have a lot of redundancy built into them, and our crews are trained to deal with those situations so they can land safely.”
The Civil Aviation Safety Authority said on Friday that it was confident that Qantas was operating safely and is confident in its safety management systems.