Jetstar Pilot Lands Plane in Rockhampton due to Fumes

9th Jun 2015

Jetstar Australia's aircraft, which was supposed to take passengers from Brisbane to Mackay, was forced to make an emergency landing at the Rockhampton airport.

The reason for this unexpected change of plans was that, apparently, the pilot noticed a smoke in his cabin and decided to make an emergency landing at around 4:45 in the afternoon today.

Councilor Neil Fisher from Rockhampton commented on the incident and said that all passengers were safe and well.

He also said:

"The plane landed safely and at the moment the air services fire unit are going through the plane to determine what the problem is."

A spokesman for the Australian carrier confirmed the cabin crew on Jetstar flight number JQ888 had noticed a strange odor and said:

"In line with standard safety procedures the captain requested Rockhampton Airport to operate emergency standby services. The aircraft landed safely and without incident. All passengers have disembarked and we're now working to get them to their destination as quickly as possible."

Flight JQ888 was scheduled to leave Brisbane Airport at 3:45 p.m., and to arrive in Mackay at 5:20 p.m. today. However, due to these circumstances, and since the team are still looking into what caused the smoke the return flight from Mackay to Brisbane has been canceled.

The carrier was quick to transfer all passengers to their desired destination, so they haven't lost much time getting to Mackay. However, they will have to find an alternative service back from Mackay, either with Jetstar, or some other carrier.

Immediately after the plane landed at Rockhampton, staff wearing oxygen masks boarded the plane to determine the source of fumes. Until that is found out and the problem fixed, the aircraft will be out of commission.

Virgin Australia Makes a Priority Perth Landing

Meanwhile, Virgin Australia flight bound from West Angelus, Parabadoo landed safely at around 11:00 a.m. after an engineer encouraged the pilot to ask for a priority landing.

The pilot called for a priority landing of the Fokker 100 due to a "minor engineering issue".