Batik Air flight bound for Indonesia returns to Melbourne after engine fails on take-off
A Batik Air flight bound for Bali has made an emergency return to Melbourne after one of its engines failed during take-off.
Flight OD178 was heading from Melbourne to Denpasar when the engine failure occurred on Tuesday morning, forcing pilots to turn back within an hour of departure.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Bali flight returns after engine failure.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.The Boeing 737 MAX aircraft only made it as far as Melbourne’s outer northern suburbs before circling back to the airport.
Emergency crews were waiting as the plane touched down, with fire trucks meeting the aircraft after it landed “fast and hard” with smoking brakes.
“There were some emergency crews gathering around the plane while we sat there for about half an hour, making sure everything was safe,” one passenger said.
Many of those on board were schoolies heading to Bali for end-of-year celebrations.
Passengers described an unusual take-off experience.
“We took off and the plane didn’t really get that high off the ground, kind of stayed pretty low. The take-off was really weird. They were flying low for ages,” one passenger recalled.
Another passenger said: “I kind of started to doze and then I get a little bit of a nudge from him going, ‘we’re not going very high, something’s wrong here.’”
A photo taken by a passenger shows discolouration in the middle of the engine, though it’s unclear what caused the damage. Passengers don’t recall hearing any impact during take-off.
The pilots had to circle Melbourne to burn off fuel before landing, as 737 aircraft cannot dump fuel on demand like larger planes.
While aircraft can safely operate on one engine, it’s far from ideal.
The incident involves the same type of 737 MAX that was involved in two deadly crashes overseas, though this engine failure is unrelated to those tragedies, which centred around flight control software issues.
“To be truthful, I liked the planes and I was rather nervous. And also it’s 737 MAX — bit of a chequered history,” one passenger said.
Most passengers were told to go home and were rebooked on the next Batik Air flight, which isn’t until Wednesday.
Many chose to book with rival airlines instead, leaving them several hundred dollars out of pocket.
The aircraft now sits at a quiet area of Melbourne Airport awaiting inspection by engineers.
Originally published on 7NEWS
