PLANE EMERGENCY
An Air Asia pilot has told his passengers he was scared and they should pray when their plane started to violently shake over the Indian Ocean.
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A spokesman for Perth Airport said the AirAsia flight, with 359 passengers aboard, left Perth just before 7am today.
The pilot identified a technical issue with the A330 airbus on flight D7237 more than an hour into the journey and turned back to Perth. It landed safely at 10am.
It is understood there was a single engine failure.
Inside an Air Asia plane that was forced to make an emergency landing in Perth this morning.
Passengers said they heard a bang about 8.30am and then the plane started shuddering.
Sophie Nicolas said she heard a small explosion from the left wing.
“You could tell by the cabin crew’s reaction that it was really bad,” she said.
An Air Asia plane bound for Kuala Lumpur has been forced to turn back due to a “technical issue”.
She said the captain then announced the plane would be returning to Perth.
“He said, ‘I hope you all say a prayer, I’ll be saying a prayer too and let’s hope we all get back home safely’,” she said. “It was terrifying.”
Father of three Dave Parry said that after the bang, a smell similar to an engine seizing wafted through the cabin for a minute or two.
“I had a sense the plane was turning and then the captain announced that it appeared the left engine had seized,” he recounted.
“He said ‘we don’t know the details of why, we will get back to you’.”
Passengers near the left engine were asked to tell cabin crew if they saw what happened or any problems with the left engine.
Passengers were asked to stay calm and reminded of safety procedures. They practised the brace position for landing during the journey back to Perth.
Another passenger said the pilot warned them the return journey would be slower because they had the power of only one engine and to try to limit the shuddering.
Mr Parry said the most frightening time was the minutes they waited in the brace position as the plane came in to land because they could not see what was happening.
After the plane landed safely, everyone on board applauded the pilots.
“The captain did a very good job, he was reassuring and then we landed safely,” one man said.
Once they landed they were told a blade had sheared off the left engine.
They are now queuing to try to re-book flights.
Some passengers are unsure if they want to fly again today.
An airport spokesman said that Fire and Emergency Services had been called to meet the plane, as a precautionary measure, but there was no indication anyone had been hurt.
AirAsia said passengers were being attended by ground staff and all necessary assistance was being provided.
“Flight crew are taking precautionary measures to check the aircraft and some guests on board the flight will be transferred to the next available flight today,” the airline said. “Other guests will be informed of the progress of the flig
