An AirAsia X flight that was headed for Kuala Lumpur was forced to land in Brisbane just an hour into its flight from the Gold Coast.
Per reports from news.com.au, the Flight D7207 departed GC around 10.20pm last night, but after what the airline claimed was a suspected bird strike, touched down in an emergency landing at 11.33pm in Brissy.
None of the 14 crew and 345 passengers onboard suffered any injuries.
UPDATE: per a statement from AirAsia X Berhad, “A recovery flight has been deployed by AirAsia X and is expected to arrive in Brisbane Airport at 17:10hrs local time. Passengers will be transferred to recovery flight D7 689, which is scheduled to depart for Kuala Lumpur from Brisbane Airport at 18:10hrs today.”
Passenger accounts on social media suggest there was a number of loud bangs and flames coming out of the engine, with the plane vibrating just minutes after takeoff.
“The plane started shuddering then there were a couple of loud bangs and a lot of light,” passenger Tim Joga told Fairfax Media.
Joga claimed to witness about “four or five bangs” before seeing flames shooting out from the engine.
“I could see an orange light coming from the windows,” he told Fairfax.
Meanwhile, passenger Malissa Siaea and her husband noticed “funny noises when we were getting ready for takeoff”.
“About 20 minutes into the flight fire sparked out of the right-side engine,” she told Fairfax Media.
“Then the plane swooped a little bit and started shaking badly.”
A statement shared on Twitter by AirAsia X said, “AirAsia X Flight D7 207 bound for Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia was diverted after experiencing a suspected bird strike to its starboard engine shortly after takeoff at Gold Coast Airport at 22:20hrs local time tonight.
“Two bird remains were found on the runway.
“The flight with 345 passengers and 14 crew was diverted to Brisbane and landed safely at 23:33 hours.”
Per the statement, AirAsia X CEO Benyamin Ismail said, “We are following all regulatory guidelines to ensure the safety and well-being of our guests, who are currently being attended to by our ground staff.
Second engine problem in a few weeks for @AirAsia in Australian Airspace. 356 souls onboard. All safe. #d7207 #mayday pic.twitter.com/f31Q2z4oF5
— Ντίνος (@thesmartpirate) July 3, 2017
“We would like to commend our pilot and crew members for their professionalism and swift action to reassure passengers who were on board flight D7 207 and to land the aircraft safely in Brisbane airport.
“AirAsia X will arrange for a special flight to transport all guests on Flight D7 207 to Kuala Lumpur as soon as possible”.
The incident follows a separate incident last week, which saw another Kuala Lumpur-bound plane turned back to Perth after it started shaking “like a washing machine”, per passenger reports.
Passenger Sophie Nicolas told media the captain of the flight urged passengers to “say a prayer” for a safe return and landing.
Image: Twitter @latikambourke
