Qantas flight with 63 people on board makes emergency landing in Mildura

A Qantas flight with more than 60 people onboard has been forced to make an emergency landing in Victoria’s northwest after losing hydraulics on its wing flaps.

A Qantas flight with 63 people on board has been forced to make an emergency landing at Mildura.

The flight was caught up in a mid-air drama on Tuesday morning with sources telling the Herald Sun it “lost hydraulics on its wing flaps”.

The flight — QF2079 — took off from Mildura in Victoria’s northwest bound for Melbourne about 10.40am before the issue emerged.

It made an emergency landing at Mildura about 12pm.

The plane completed a series of circuits as it dumped fuel before making the landing.

“Police along with other emergency services were called to an airport in Mildura following reports of an aircraft incident just after 11am, where it appears there was an issue with the aircraft,” police said in a statement.

“The plane landed safely, the pilot and passengers weren’t injured.”

A Qantas flight was forced back to Mildura Airport. Picture: Glenn Milne

Passengers were offered $30 meal voucher after the landing. Picture: Stuart Kavanagh

Qantas told the Herald Sun the plane was forced to return to Mildura because of a “technical issue”.

The spokesperson said the pilot was always in control of the flight and it performed a “priority landing” rather than an emergency one.

“One of our aircraft had to return to Mildura shortly after takeoff on Tuesday due to a technical issue,” the spokesperson said.

“Our pilots are highly trained to handle situations like this and the flight has since landed safely in Mildura.

“We appreciate this would have been an unsettling experience for customers and thank them for their understanding.”

A pilot, who asked not to be named, said a hydraulic failure was “pretty serious” depending on the type of aircraft.

Speaking generally, and not specifically about Dash-8 aircraft, the pilot said while hydraulics were used to activate the flaps — which help the aircraft increase lift to allow the aeroplane to fly slower as it lands — there were generally alternate ways to manouvre the aircraft.

However, he said losing hydraulics made it “harder to fly” though pilots trained specifically for that situation.

“It’s a serious failure but one we train for,” he said.

Zac Sutton was headed to Melbourne for work on the flight and said he noticed something was up when the plane was headed in the wrong direction.

“We just sort of noticed we’re heading in the wrong direction and then it did a few circles before it was announced that we were going to have to come back,” Mr Sutton said.

Mr Sutton said there was no panic aboard the plane.

“There’s not really a lot you can do at that point,” he said.

QantasLink passenger Clement Noel was on-board the flight. Picture: Stuart Kavanagh

Clement Noel, a kitchen hand from France who was working in Balranald and heading home to Adelaide via Melbourne told the Herald Sun everything was fine on-board the plane.

“It was fine, everything was fine, we were just circling and circling,” Mr Noel said.

Passengers on-board the flight were offered $30 vouchers for the Mildura Airport cafe as they awaited a replacement flight.

Crews from Fire Rescue Victoria, Victoria Police and Ambulance Victoria were on the scene at Mildura Airport for the landing.

The aircraft was able to taxi to the gate under its own power upon landing.

Originally published as Qantas flight with 63 people on board makes emergency landing in Mildura