Yet another Qantas flight turned back

QANTAS BOEING 737-838 VH-VXP (MSN 33722)

Qantas is really not having a good time at the moment with three aircraft being forced to turn back in as many days. Are they really having a run of bad luck, or is this just a normal daily event being bought to our attention because of the pan call on Wednesday?

A packed Qantas plane travelling from Melbourne (MEL/YMML) to Sydney (SYD/YSSY) has been forced to turn around mid-flight in the airline's third incident in three days.

The airline claims the pilots of QF430 were alerted to a 'minor engine issue' and decided to immediately turn around and land the plane in Melbourne.

The Boeing 737 took off from Tullamarine runway 16 at 9.41am and climbed to flight level 250 before completing a large loop and returning just 50 minutes later at 10.19am, once again landing on runway 16.

A Qantas spokesperson said that customers would be booked on other flights over the following hours.

'The aircraft landed normally – this was not an emergency or priority landing. Both engines remained operational throughout the flight,' they said.

It comes immediately after Qantas flight QF144 from Auckland to Sydney was forced to issue a mid-air mayday call halfway through the three-hour journey on Wednesday.

Then on Thursday, flight QF101 was forced to turn back to Sydney airport after it suffered a 'potential mechanical issue' on its way to Fiji.

Aircraft Information:

Airline: Qantas

Code: QF/QFA

Aircraft: Boeing 737-838

Registration: VH-VXP

Serial Number: 33722

Engine: 2 x CFMI CFM56-7B26

First Flew: 8th May 2003

Age: 19 Yrs. 8 Mts