By Lachlan Abbott
An international flight out of Melbourne Airport was forced to abort take-off at the last second, sparking an emergency response on the runway.
Etihad Airways flight EY461 to Abu Dhabi started to roll down the Tullamarine airport runway shortly before 7pm on Sunday, but had to slam on the brakes. Fire trucks soon responded and doused the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner’s landing gear, a video posted on social media shows.
A passenger on the plane reported two tyres had burst, but Etihad Airways later clarified they had “deflated as a result of the high-speed rejected take-off which is a normal occurrence”.
In a statement, Melbourne Airport said the Aviation Rescue and Firefighting Service deployed firefighting foam as a precaution.
“All 289 passengers safely disembarked the aircraft and were bussed to the terminal yesterday evening,” an updated statement said on Monday morning.
A spokesperson for Melbourne Airport said damage to the plane’s tyres meant it could not be towed off the runway on Sunday night, shutting the north-south airstrip for hours. The plane was moved by Monday morning.
“Runway inspections have been completed and the runway has been reopened for operations this morning,” a spokesperson said on Monday.
In a later statement, Etihad Airways said the plane’s crew aborted the take-off “due to technical reasons”.
“Guests have been disembarked safely and our teams are working to enable them to continue their onward journeys as quickly as possible,” an airline spokesperson said.
“Etihad Airways sincerely regrets any inconvenience caused. The safety and comfort of our guests and crew remain our highest priority.”
Vince, a passenger who spoke on radio station 3AW on Monday, said everything was normal until the brakes went on “quite quickly and quite hard”.
“Some of the passengers surrounding [me] were just a bit scared and … grabbing on onto things,” he said, adding that he soon saw fire trucks spraying water onto the brakes on the right side of the plane.
Vince said passengers were stuck on the flight for several hours after the emergency stop. Pilots gave regular updates but could not reveal more about the technical issue that caused the aborted take-off.
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clarification
An earlier version of this story said the plane’s tyres “exploded”, citing a passenger’s account. Etihad Airways later clarified the tyres instead “deflated” as a result of the rejected take-off, which is “a normal occurrence”.