Qantas flight forced to make emergency landing after a brake light malfunction

A passenger has revealed terror on a Qantas plane forced to turn back to Brisbane because of brake issues, with harrowing video of terrified passengers bracing for impact. Watch it here.

The flight was forced to return to Brisbane. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Swift

A Qantas flight bound for Adelaide was forced to return to Brisbane Airport on Tuesday morning after a technical fault caused a brakes malfunction.

Flight QF1929 left Brisbane Airport at 8.20am en route to Adelaide but was forced to turn around over northern New South Wales 40 minutes into the flight to return to Brisbane.

The captain told passengers the brakes were locked in place, telling them to get in the brace position.

Video shared to 4BC shows passengers leaning their head on the seat in front, with air hostesses shouting “stay down, heads down”.

A Qantas spokesperson confirmed the flight returned to Brisbane where it landed just before 10am.

“A flight from Brisbane to Adelaide returned to Brisbane shortly after takeoff due to an issue with landing gear brakes,” the spokesperson said.

“The aircraft landed normally and is being checked by engineers.

“We understand that this would have been a distressing experience for customers and we thank them for following the instructions of the crew.”

While investigations into the incident remain ongoing, early indications point to an issue with the park brake warning light.

It is understood the aircraft would have been able to land without one of its tyres should a tyre explosion have eventuated.

Passenger Tudor Vasile said his “heart skipped a few extra beats” after the captain’s announcement, prompting him to send messages to his loved ones about what was happening on the flight.

A Qantas flight was forced to make an emergency landing in Brisbane

“It was quite scary, it was daunting,” Mr Vasile said.

“The captain jumped on the microphone saying that the brake lights had been triggered, meaning that the brakes were locked in place, meaning when the landing gear goes down the wheels won’t rotate, causing the wheels to blow on impact.”

“They were saying because they would blow on impact we would have to make an emergency landing and as you can imagine everyone on the plane was freaking out.”

He described seeing emergency vehicles prepared on the tarmac including Queensland Fire Department crews.

Just seconds before the landing the captain told passengers to “brace for emergency impact”.

“I think that’s when the games really began because everyone started freaking out and into brace position, head down,” he said.

“It was five seconds out when they were saying emergency brace, brace and you could hear the Qantas hostess yelling brace, brace and everyone was.

“And it just didn’t stop and I think everyone at that time, that’s when the panic settled in and everyone was getting very fearful.

“I’ll tell you what it was a great, great feeling knowing that the tires didn’t blow and we landed safely.”

He said the cabin erupted in cheers when the plane landed safely, adding that the Qantas crew handled the situation with “precision” and “kept calm”.

All passengers have since boarded a rescheduled flight to Adelaide.