Melbourne-Adelaide Qantas flight misses landing at Adelaide Airport

Passengers were in for a shock when their Qantas flight from Melbourne roared back into the air on Thursday evening.

A Qantas flight from Melbourne to Adelaide missed its final approach after a lack of separation with another aircraft on the runway on June 26. Picture: Gemma Jones

Qantas flight QFA-697 from Melbourne to Adelaide has missed its final approach after a lack of separation with another aircraft on the runway.

The packed flight was one hour into the journey and had flown past Adelaide Oval and over Mile End on its final approach to the runway below when the captain put the power down and ascended to 3400 feet.

Passengers voiced confusion as the aircraft climbed with the Captain telling passengers that another landing aircraft was closer than the control tower anticipated, with the lack of separation leading to him performing a “missed approach.”

The aircraft landed 10 minutes later without incident.

The Captain emerged from the cockpit to farewell passengers, telling them a missed approach was rare but can happen on as many as one in 100 flights. Picture: Gemma Jones

It had been an uneventful flight to that point with smooth flying conditions and informative updates from the flight deck, including from the captain who announced his wife and daughter were at the Katy Perry concert.

“The only thing roaring as the plane flew past the entertainment centre were the engines,” Advertiser editor Gemma Jones said.

“We were so close to the ground when suddenly it felt like full power for take off, there was a lot of confusion about what was happening.

“The captain and crew were excellent. There was the fun banter about the concert in Adelaide tonight and when it mattered the passengers could not have been in safer hands.”

The Captain emerged from the cockpit to farewell passengers, telling them a missed approach was rare but can happen on as many as one in 100 flights.

The 737-838 was the same aircraft which suffered an explosive engine failure, causing a fire beside the runway at Sydney airport last November.

The faulty engine was approaching the end of its life when the incident occurred.

Air Services Australia have been contacted for comment.

Originally published as Melbourne-Adelaide Qantas flight misses landing at Adelaide Airport