AirAsia’s new mid-flight emergency in Brisbane
Last night, an AirAsia X flight was grounded in Brisbane after a suspected bird strike.
Passengers on the flight were terrified after seeing sparks come out from the engine.
Flight D7207 departed from the Gold Coast at 10:20pm, bound for Kuala Lumpur, but made an emergency landing in Brisbane at 11:33pm.
The 345 passengers and 14 crew on board were not injured.
Passenger Tim Joga told Fairfax Media the aircraft started vibrating minutes after take-off.
“The plane started shuddering then there were a couple of loud bangs and a lot of light,” he said.
Tim explained that he heard “four or five bangs” before seeing the flames coming from the engine.
“I could see an orange light coming from the windows,” he said.
Newlywed Malissa Siaea, going to Thailand with her husband, explained the plane was “making funny noises when we were getting ready to take off.”
“About 20 minutes into the flight fire sparked out of the right-side engine,” she told Fairfax Media.
“Then the plane swooped a little bit and started shaking badly.”
She said a number of passengers were unaware of the issue until a man yelled, “What the heck is happening?”
Passenger Calvin Boon posted a video of the plane after landing in Brisbane and he thanked the AirAsia X captain and crew for the way they handled the incident.
Air Asia X #D7207 Gold Coast-Kuala Lumpur (A330 9M-XXT) diverted to Brisbane at 1310UT today with engine trouble: https://t.co/72NjnieqHx pic.twitter.com/TBzpfeTWhh
— Airport Webcams (@AirportWebcams) July 3, 2017
The airline blamed a “suspected bird strike” for the mid-air emergency.
"AirAsia X Flight D7207 bound for Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia was diverted after experiencing a suspected bird strike to its starboard engine,” the budget airline said in a statement. “Two bird remains were found on the runway.”
AirAsia X CEO Benyamin Ismail said all passengers would be flown to their destination as soon as possible.
“We are following all regulatory guidelines to ensure the safety and wellbeing of our guests,” he said in the statement.
“We would like to commend our pilot and crew members for their professionalism and swift action to reassure passengers who were on board flight D7207 and to land the aircraft safely in Brisbane airport.”
Less than a fortnight ago, an AirAsia X plane returned to Perth after encountering an engine issue.
Passengers on flight D7237 explained how they heard a bang and then saw the left engine violently vibrating.
The pilot told passengers to “say a prayer” and at 10 am the plane landed safely.