Investigations launched after emergency landings

An Air New Zealand 737. File photo / NZ Herald

Investigations are under way after two Air New Zealand flights were forced to make emergency landings yesterday due to engine problems.

On Sunday morning, a Boeing 737 plane from Auckland to Wellington with more than 100 passengers and crew dipped and dived when the right engine was shut down.

The terrified passengers were told that the problem was due to low oil pressure but were assured that the plane could safely fly on one engine as it turned round and headed back to Auckland.

But it ended up landing safely at Hamilton Airport, where emergency fire crews were on standby.

"On inspection, the engineers have found that oil did leak from the engine," Air New Zealand spokesman Mark Street told NZPA.

"The plane will now be transported to our engineering facilities in Auckland where it will be fully inspected to find the cause of the fault."

That work was likely to take a few days, he said.

A second plane was forced to make an emergency landing yesterday after an engine problem.

The aircraft, a 1900D Beech operated by Air New Zealand subsidiary Eagle Air, was on its way to Auckland when it was forced to turn back and make an emergency landing in Gisborne after an engine was shut down.

Ten minutes into the mid-morning direct flight from Gisborne to Auckland, pilots told passengers they had to shut down one of the aircraft's two engines and turn back, a passenger said.

"A few minutes into the flight the pilots observed erroneous power readings from the left hand engine," Mr Street said."The captain elected to shut down that engine as a precaution, the aircraft has been inspected, tested and is back in service after the engine was found to be without fault."

There were nine passengers onboard and they were transferred to the next service.

Civil Aviation Authority spokesman Bill Sommer said both incidents had been reported and investigations would be carried out to find out what happened.

- NZPA