Qantas flight forced to make emergency landing after mid-flight crisis: ‘Nobody was speaking’

A technical issue has forced a Qantas plane to make a dramatic emergency landing in Western Australia. 

Flight QF1613, a Fokker 100 aircraft, departed from Geraldton about 9am on Friday for Perth but turned around about 45 minutes into the flight near Arrowsmith.

‘The captain took the mic and said, ‘There is a vibration on the left side of the plane, so stay calm and we go back to Geraldton to do an emergency landing,”’ passenger Loic Foison told the ABC after the plane landed safely.

Mr Foison said the situation was ‘stressful’ and that the plane dropped altitude and passengers could see through the windows that it was ‘very near the ground’. 

‘It was really strange. Everyone was calm. Nobody was speaking. Pretty calm but really anxious.’

Fellow passenger Mathilda Tricoire said at one point she assumed the plane was going to land in the remote WA countryside because it was flying so low. 

Qantas said in a statement the aircraft had a minor technical issue and would be examined before it was cleared to return to service.

Passengers were being rebooked on alternate flights on Friday.