Singapore bound flight forced to make emergency landing after tyres overheat

SCOOT BOEING 787-9 9V-OJA (MSN 37112)

The pilot of a Scoot flight flying from Perth (PER/YPPH) to Singapore (SIN/WSSS) was forced to turn the plane around and make an emergency landing back in Perth because the tyres on the landing gears were overheating.

Flight TR9, which was packed with passengers, took off from runway 03 at 7.41pm (11.41 Zulu) on Monday night and headed to Singapore. They only made it as far as Rottnest before the plane changed course. The plane reached a height of 7,675 feet before doing circuits of Rottnest to dump fuel and wait to get the correct flight path back to Perth, landing again on runway 03 at 8.18pm 12.18 Zulu).

 

IMAGE FROM FLIGHTRADAR24

Flying back over the suburbs, the plane descended to about 2,000 feet. One passenger, Jude, spoke to Nine News Perth and said they were circling for about 40 minutes.

“It felt too calm and I’m more used to turbulence. It felt weird, and then the captain made an announcement [saying] we have hot tyres,” he said.

“They did end up dumping the fuel to lighten the flight, so we could come back safely. So it was actually quite serious.

“The pilot did a good job. I’m sure he was laser sharp at that point full of adrenaline. He brought us in safe and it was a softer landing than I’ve had on different planes, so it was good.”

When the plane landed, the Department of Fire and Emergency Services were waiting on the tarmac in case the tyres caught fire. Nine News Perth spoke to other passengers after they got off the flight, with many grateful to be back on solid ground without incident. One passenger, Adrian said they had been warned the plane landing would be rough, but most people had been pretty calm.

“We did land very, very fast and brake very hard ... then we noticed the fire trucks were out on the tarmac,” he said.

“I didn’t see panic on many people’s faces, and I wasn’t that worried either.”

But another passenger, Akira, said she had been nervous when she noticed the plane had been going around in circles.

“We were told the next flight we would be able to get on would be between 4pm and 9pm on Tuesday,” she said.

“My stomach was turning a little bit, but you’ve just got to have faith that they’ve done these things before,” another woman said.

“We’re all in limbo now [while we wait for another flight] but I guess at least we are alive.”

The passengers were left searching for another flight to Singapore. While some managed to get on a Singapore Airlines flight (which owns Scoot) on the same night, many others were left to try to find a seat in the coming days. A Scoot statement said spares for the flight needed to be uplifted to Perth, giving passengers the choice of flying another Scoot flight at 6pm Tuesday, with another planned to depart at 9pm. Customers who had nowhere to stay overnight had been provided accommodation, the statement said, and the airline would help with connecting flights from Singapore.

“Scoot sincerely apologises for the disruption and inconvenience to our customers,” the statement said.

Aircraft Information:

Airline: Scoot

Code: TR/TGW

Aircraft: Boeing 787-9

Registration: 9V-OJA

Serial Number: 37112

Engines: 2 x RR Trent 1000

First Flew: 12th January 2015

Age: 7 Yrs 5 Mts





Story sourced from here
Perth to Singapore flight forced to make emergency landing after tyres overheat (smh.com.au)