Bird remains found on Queenstown runway after fiery Virgin Australia emergency

Queenstown Airport says bird remains were found on the runway shortly after a Virgin Australia flight took off.

Queenstown Airport has revealed bird remains were found at the far end of the runway shortly after a Virgin Australia flight took off late Monday.

The Boeing 737-800 operating flight VA148 is believed to have ingested a bird into its right engine, resulting in loud bangs and flames as the plane departed Queenstown for Melbourne.

Earlier the airport said an airfield inspection conducted before the flight found no birds in the immediate vicinity.

In an updated statement, Queenstown Airport said a runway inspection after the Virgin flight took off had discovered bird remains.

“This information has been passed on to Virgin Australia to support their investigation,” said an airport spokeswoman.

New Zealand’s Transport Accident Investigation Commission said it had taken the decision not to open an inquiry into the incident, which saw the pilots make an emergency landing in nearby Invercargill.

There were no injuries to the 67 passengers and six crew on board.

After the apparent bird strike, Queenstown locals told Radio NZ they heard a noise similar to a car backfiring and looked up to see flames coming from the 737.

Mike Legge told RNZ “his heart was in his mouth” as he watched the plane turn to the south.

“It sounded like someone was revving a jet boat in our garden,” Mr Legge said.

“The noise was coming from this jet, which was climbing with flames coming out of one engine and it was making a backfiring kind of noise. Just couldn’t believe it.”

Virgin Australia chief operations officer Stuart Aggs said the flight landed safely and all passengers disembarked.

Mr Aggs expressed his appreciation for the support of Invercargill Airport, emergency services, local Air New Zealand team members and Virgin’s own crew in helping to support the response effort.

After spending the night at accommodation in Invercargill, passengers were bussed back to Queenstown on Tuesday to await another flight that afternoon.

Flight data showed the plane looping around and landing in Invercargill.

A statement from Queenstown Airport said bird strikes were “a known risk to aviation around the world and airports put considerable effort into mitigating that risk”.

“The Civil Aviation Authority records the incident rate for bird strikes at Queenstown Airport as ‘low’,” said the airport.

“Airfield inspections are conducted by airport staff multiple times each day. An inspection was completed minutes before Virgin Australia flight VA148 departed on June 17 and no birds were detected on the airfield at that time.”

The sort of birds of “primary concern” at Queenstown included oyster catchers and plovers, along with smaller birds such as finches, starlings and sparrows.

The TAIC said it had considered information provided so far about the incident and decided not to open an inquiry.

“As always, this may change on the basis of relevant new information.

“The commission’s purpose is to improve transport safety by avoiding repeat accidents, rather than by ascribing blame.”

Bird strikes affected an average of four in every 10,000 flights in New Zealand, according to the country’s aviation regulator.

Even birds weighing as little as 500g can cause considerable damage if ingested into an aircraft engine.

Originally published as Bird remains found on Queenstown runway after fiery Virgin Australia emergency