Jet landing aborted
A report in The Sunday Territorian says that a Qantas passenger had to abort its landing at Darwin airport on Saturday because another plane was trying to land at the same time, a passenger said.
The Qantas plane powered up to avoid its landing as an Airnorth jet landed ahead of it, he said.
“We saw it coming in – we were descending at the same time,” the public servant, of Jingili, said last night. “My mate noticed it on the side- a plane coming in to the left of us. “He was lower than us, coming in at the same time. I thought `hang on, what’s going to happen here?’
“We wouldn’t have been more than 30-40 seconds from landing.” “Then our plane powered up, lifted up and took off again.”
The jet, about two-thirds full with passengers, was arriving in Darwin from Alice Springs about 2pm yesterday.
Qantas denied the incident was a near-miss, calling it a regulation “turnaround” at about 500ft.
“The flight crew wasn’t happy with the stability of their approach,” spokesman Simon Rushton said. “This is a regular occurrence- there was no suggestion of another aircraft.”
But the passengers said the Qantas pilot told passengers after aborting the descent that he was “facilitating some space” to land.
After circling once the Qantas jet landed.
The father-of-four would not be named but said he had to speak up because it could save lives next time.
He said it was a scary experience.
“I was looking across at a newborn baby and I thought: ‘that could have been the end of you after just six weeks’,” he said.
“We were just waiting to see what we were going to do.” “We realised we were never going to go too close.” “Most people (on the plane) didn’t know.”
The Defence Department, which runs air traffic control at Darwin airport, said it did not yet have any information on the incident.
A Report by The Mole and The Sunday Territorian
John Alwyn-Jones
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