'Better to be safe than sorry': Qantas flight forced to land after technical issue
A Qantas A380 plane en route from Melbourne to Dubai has been forced to land in Sydney due to a mechanical issue.
A Qantas spokesman told AAP that engine vibrations were higher than normal, prompting the decision to land in Sydney where a replacement aircraft was available.
The problem was noticed hours into the trip when the plane was over Western Australia.
The flight, carrying 410 passengers, left Melbourne on Monday night and circled above Sydney for several hours before it touched down safely just before 7am on Tuesday.
ALERT #QF9 airbourne for nearly 6h holding at 27,000ft near Sydney Airport -@FlightAlerts777 https://t.co/RhTvQApnls pic.twitter.com/fwpy4x75Z2
— AIRLIVE (@airlivenet) April 4, 2016
One passenger described the ordeal as a "minor inconvenience".
"We were kept well informed and it's better to be safe then sorry," Bree Turner told Yahoo7.
The flight was in the air for eight hours, enough time to travel to Indonesia or Malaysia.
Passengers will depart on another flight later in the morning.
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News break – April 5