Air NZ passengers feared for lives

Photo / Mark Mitchell

A passenger on an Air New Zealand plane forced to make an emergency landing at Hamilton airport yesterday considered sending his wife a loving text when the plane started rolling and nose-diving.

Brian Childs said he heard a "huge bang" before the plane, flying from Auckland to Wellington, started rolling and nose-diving about halfway into the hour-long flight. "It scared the s*** out of me. I honestly thought that was it and I was going to die."

Mr Childs said passengers on the right-hand side of the plane told him they saw a big flash and smoke start pouring from the engine.

"One of the cabin crew who ran to the back of the plane was as white as a ghost," he said.

"It was pretty scary. I thought that was it. The plane dipped to the right side then swung over to the left before it started diving."

He said the pilot told the passengers that something had gone wrong with the Boeing 737 plane's right engine, which had been shut down. "It felt like the simulation that Air New Zealand released after their plane crashed in France... The woman next to me said she felt as though she were on the 9/11 flight and wanted to call her loved ones."

Another passenger, Simon Hoffman, said a passenger a few seats behind him had an anxiety attack and needed oxygen and others were in tears.

"Some people were visibly upset - they weren't making much noise but you could see it on their faces and they had tears in their eyes."

He said the pilot updated passengers over the intercom and the flight crew were "amazingly professional and calm". Mr Hoffman, who was returning from a 5-month overseas family holiday, said his three children were on edge for the rest of the flight.

The plane turned around to head back to Hamilton airport because it was too windy to land in Wellington with one engine.

Mr Hoffman said there was applause onboard when the plane landed safely at Hamilton airport about 10.20am.

Air New Zealand spokesman Mark Street said the problem was most likely caused by low oil pressure and not an explosion.

"The passengers probably would have seen smoke because of the low oil pressure, which means oil has come out of the engine. That also would have caused the flash."

The 95 passengers were taken via bus back to Auckland and were staggered across a number of flights yesterday afternoon.

The plane has been taken out of service and the Civil Aviation Authority has been informed.