Air NZ in another emergency landing scare

Air NZ Flight 106 Another ‘Close Call’

Air NZ Flight with Up to 400 People on Board Came Close to Another Disaster

“… everybody was quietly crapping themselves,” Air NZ passenger

Passengers on Air New Zealand flight 106 from Sydney (Australia) to Auckland (New Zealand)  were terrified when the pilot warned them to be prepared for an emergency landing as the flight approached Auckland airspace Tuesday night.

Air New Zealand Boeing 767-300 reportedly had a problem with it’s wing flaps, according to a report.

“… everybody was very quiet and rather concerned,” said passenger Kevin Donovan.

“It was pretty obvious that something was going on because we were circling … for quite some time.”

“Then the pilot came on and made a somewhat unusual announcement. He said, ‘For those of you who fly regularly, you probably realise something is up.’ And everyone sort of went quiet, like ‘what?’

“And he said they couldn’t open the flaps, and although that wasn’t going to cause a problem with the landing, the landing was going to be extremely high speed, therefore it was an emergency landing situation.” Mr Donovan said.

Passengers were told to remove their spectacles, if they wore one, and put them in the seat pocket, Mr Donovan said.

They were also instructed to read the safety instructions and “understand the best brace position”.

“And I think at that point, everybody was quietly crapping themselves.” He told the reporters.

“The jet seemed to circle for another 15 minutes, and then the passengers were told the crew had managed to partially remedy the problem, meaning it was no longer going to be an emergency landing.” The report said.

“It obviously meant a lot of relief for everybody, but when we came in to land, we came in pretty bloody fast still. There was a lot of clapping when the plane landed.”

“It was quite funny when they said, ‘Thank you for choosing the airline voted most popular in the world.’ Everyone sort of cracked up and thought, ‘Well, I bet it’s not so popular with these people on here right now’.”

The number of passengers and crew were carefully kept out of the report, but it’s believed the plane was carrying up to 375  passengers as well as a crew of 25.

The big scare comes less than two days after another Air New Zealand flight was involved in an emergency runway stop at Japan’s Narita Airport.

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• Air New Zealand: Another ‘Close Call’
• Air New Zealand Jet Windscreen Cracked Midflight
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