Now, Virgin Blue aircraft makes emergency landing in Melbourne

MELBOURNE - A Virgin Blue aircraft, en route to Sydney, was forced to return to Melbourne on Friday morning after experiencing a problem with the aircraft’s electrical system.

Virgin Blue spokesman Colin Lippiatt said that Flight DJ 807 turned back when the captain noticed a strange odour in the cabin less than 30 minutes after take-off.

The Boeing 737 aircraft, carrying 122 passengers and six crewmembers, made an emergency landing at Melbourne Airport at 7.16am.

“Just after take-off this morning the captain detected a bit of a smell in the cabin and as a precautionary measure he notified the airport that he wanted to return to have it checked out to see what it was,” the Sydney Morning Herald quoted Lippiatt, as saying.

“The aircraft was airborne less than half an hour. It is already back at the airport; it landed without incident. Passengers were disembarked and engineers are now checking out the aircraft,” he added.

Lippiatt further said that the cause of the odour is under investigation.

Meanwhile, Andrew de Ridder, a passenger on board the flight, said that the cabin smelled like burning plastic.

“We circled in the air for about 20 minutes, then we landed back in Melbourne,” Ridder said.

“The crew kept us well informed, and we were glad to be back on the ground. We are currently in the terminal awaiting further news,” he added.

Earlier, on Monday, a Qantas aircraft, en route to Argentina was forced to return to Sydney due to similar issues.

One of the passengers had said that within half an hour into their trip to Argentina, they hit some turbulence, but the captain advised passengers that there was an electrical failure on the main control panel.

She had claimed that the main control panel was expelling smoke into the cabin pit. (ANI)