Qantas flight from Sydney to Port Macquarie turns back after smoke alarm goes off

A Qantas flight from Sydney to Port Macquarie was forced to turn back after spending only minutes in the air. Here’s the latest.

A Qantas flight to Port Macquarie had to abort its trip after a smoke alarm went off. Picture: File image of a Bombadier Dash 8 Q300 aircraft

A Qantas flight from Sydney to Port Macquarie had to abort its trip and return to the airport shortly after takeoff.

Qantas flight QF2160 departed Sydney Airport at 8.35am on Friday for the hour and 10-minute journey to the NSW Mid-North Coast but had only been in the air for minutes before a smoke alarm went off.

This forced the plane to take an initial holding pattern before performing a loop back to its starting point, landing back at Sydney at 9.22am after around 47 minutes in the air.

“There was no evidence of smoke, so it turned around as a precaution,” a Qantas spokeswoman said.

“It landed normally and is being inspected by engineering. Customers are being accommodated on the next flight.”

The Qantas spokeswoman they did not believe there were any “ongoing issues” with smoke alarms.

A passenger on the flight, who did not wish to named, said it was “worst flight ever”.

“We never made it and came back to Sydney but I applaud Qantas for their safety first,” the passenger said.

Emergency crews were called out as a precaution to greet the Dash 8 propeller-driven plane, which can accommodate up to 74 passengers.