NZFF

Havn't been on the forums for a while, so this is slightly delayed news- however, this story from stuff.co.nzmight spark a little interest from yesterday:

An Air New Zealand jet bound for Los Angeles with 365 people on board was forced to return to Auckland last night.

An Air NZ spokeswoman said the pilots returned after seeing a warning indication light illuminate on the flight deck.

The plane, which took off at 7.30pm, returned to Auckland 90 minutes later.

"Following standard procedure a local standby was declared. The aircraft landed without incident," she said.

"Engineers are currently inspecting the aircraft."

Radio New Zealand said the plane crew had reported a hydraulic problem. It said the plane dumped fuel on the way back to Auckland.

David Duignan, who was on the flight, told Radio New Zealand passengers applauded when the plane landed safely.

Can't wait for the TV3 or Herald site to give us a picture of B1900D

The latest update from here...

Passengers see fuel pour from plane

Rattled passengers were told not to take photos as fuel streamed out of the wings of an Air New Zealand jet bound for Los Angeles.

Flight NZ6, with 365 people on board, was forced to turn back about 20 minutes after leaving Auckland on Saturday night when the pilots were unable to retract the landing gear.

"People were pretty calm, but there were a few nervous moments there when they started dumping fuel," a passenger told The Dominion Post.

"It looked like it was raining down, it was streaming from the wings. They were telling people to stop taking photos, I'm not sure why."

The pilot told passengers a sensor in the cockpit had gone off and that they were going to dump fuel before returning to Auckland.

"They said that was why the plane was vibrating so much, because of the drag of the landing gear," the passenger said. "We flew around for about an hour then they landed again. Nobody was in the brace position or anything, it was a routine landing."

Another passenger, David Duignan, told Radio New Zealand many people applauded when the plane landed safely.

An Air New Zealand spokeswoman said the plane took off at 7.30pm and returned to Auckland 90 minutes later. "Following standard procedure a local standby was declared. The aircraft landed without incident. Engineers are currently inspecting the aircraft."

It is understood some passengers had already been switched from a Qantas flight that had not taken off because of mechanical problems.

Air New Zealand put the passengers up in a hotel for the night, shouting them pizza for dinner, and most left for Los Angeles in the morning.

TimG wrote:

QUOTE (TimG @ Feb 9 2009, 05:13 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

It is understood some passengers had already been switched from a Qantas flight that had not taken off because of mechanical problems.

A Qantas aircraft having mechanical issues??? Never!

My god - passengers saw fuel streaming from the wings!! - amazing what happens when you open dump valves and dump fuel !!
This is routine to lower landing weight - otherwise passengers will see fuel streaming from the wings all right - on landing as the wings break off under the strain !

I think the key thing to remember when listening to witnesses / reading reports in the press etc is that the vast majority of passenger on any form of public transport have no understanding of or interest in the technical workings of the 'thing' that taking them from A to B. We all know about TO and Landing weight, performance etc etc etc - Joe Public does not! What's normal, reasonable and expected to us maybe considered abnormal, unreasonable and unexpected to the un-knowledgeable. That's just the way it is and it'll never change.