Virgin Australia flight diverts after part of wing comes loose mid-flight
A passenger on board a Virgin Australia flight has described the shocking moment the lower flat on the plane’s left hand wing came loose and started blowing in the wind.
The flight took off from Brisbane Airport for Melbourne just before 6pm and was diverted mid-air back to Brisbane due to an “engineering issue”.
Bill Mauger was travelling with his wife and noticed the issue soon after take-off.
"As we were starting to get some altitude I looked over to the wing and it looked like there was something caught in it. It looked as though there was a bit of cardboard," he said.
"I thought that is a bit weird. But then I took a bit of a closer look and it was actually part of the wing peeling away.
"It was quite a large chunk of wing flapping in the breeze."
When Bill tried to alert the flight attendant, he was shut down quickly.
"I was waving to get her attention and she said, 'Yes, we've seen it, the captain is dealing with it.' She shut the conversation right down," Bill said.
Virgin Australia spoke to 9 News, explaining that the plane wing’s issue was an “engineering issue” and not a “safety issue”.
"This was not a safety issue, however the Captain made the decision to conduct an air return so the aircraft could be inspected by our engineers as a precautionary measure," the Virgin Australia spokesperson said.
Photo credit: 9news.com.au