A Qantas flight was forced to make an emergency landing on Monday morning after smoke was detected in the cockpit.
Passengers on the flight from Sydney to Perth experienced an “unsettling” situation after the pilot decided to return and sought permission to land shortly after takeoff at 8.45am.
Flight QF643 circled the Sydney airport while awaiting clearance for a priority landing. It eventually landed normally and taxied to the gate without issue.
The plane was met by emergency services, and the passengers were asked to disembark.
The passengers were then transferred to a new flight, which departed Sydney at 11.30am.
“Our pilots are highly trained to handle situations like this and the aircraft landed safely after the appropriate procedures were conducted,” a Qantas spokesperson said.
“We understand this would have been an unsettling experience for customers and apologise for the inconvenience.”
There were nearly 200 passengers on board.
No smoke was detected in the plane’s cabin.
The airline said it would investigate “the technical issue” that forced the emergency landing.
In November, Qantas flight QF520, en route to Brisbane, experienced a loud bang before landing at the Sydney airport. The airline said at the time its engineers had conducted a preliminary inspection and confirmed that it was a contained engine failure.
The incident also caused a grass fire along the Sydney airport’s parallel runway, but it was quickly brought under control.
