CECILLE Higgins was a passenger on Qantas Flight QF19 to Manila, which was forced to make an emergency landing in Sydney on Saturday because of a hydraulic fluid leak. This is her account of the flight.
We made our way to the runway for what appeared an ordinary takeoff.
Shortly after I felt the plane wheels leave the runway there was an unusual grinding noise, which seemed to come from beneath the plane.
I looked about the cabin and saw that several other passengers had also noticed it.
One man asked in an unusually high-pitched voice: “What the hell was that?”
The noise came another three or so times before the captain announced that Sydney airport had reported fluid leaking from the plane on takeoff, and that we would be flying at 5000 feet while they performed checks.
The atmosphere in the plane was relatively calm, although there was a great deal of sniggering and comments regarding Qantas’s recent spate of problems.
I watched the plane’s movements on the video monitors as we circled over Sydney and Wollongong at this low altitude for some time.
When I saw we were headed east over the ocean I realised we wouldn’t be getting to Manila anywhere near the scheduled time.
I turned to the window and was surprised to see a rush of fuel being expelled from the wing over the ocean.
I could see a fountain of fuel disappear behind us over the Pacific Ocean where we had been moments before. At this point several passengers started excitedly talking about the TV show Air Crash Investigation.
The captain finally made an announcement, giving us his assurances that while we had a problem with the plane’s hydraulic system, he was able to use a back-up system.
He said we were “looking good”, but we would need to return to Sydney.
We were told the airport’s Fire-fighting Services would meet us on the runway as a precaution and we should not be alarmed.
There were quite a few nervous giggles from the passengers and some annoyed sighs.
Some of the flight attendants were on edge.
I watched as an older Filipina woman stood up and looked around with an odd grin on her face.
The pretence of calm was shattered when an attendant shouted at the woman to sit down.
Several moments later, the captain gruffly admonished some passengers for unclipping their seatbelts and told them to resume their seats.
The tone, rather than the words the captain used, gave me an impression that the cockpit was highly stressed.
Any remaining nervous giggles from passengers quickly died away.
After a tense time the plane finally landed safely, by all appearances a routine landing and a welcome anti-climax, of course excluding the four fire trucks which tailed us after an initial stop and inspection on the runway.
I was able to smile while finally leaving the plane when the queue paused for the Filipina woman who was explaining to the relieved-looking attendants: “You know, it just wasn’t my time.”
The emergency landing of flight QF19 was Qantas’s third in little more than a week, prompting the Civil Aviation Safety Authority to launch an investigation into “operational issues within Qantas".
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