Passengers on a Qantas flight managed to escape the plane after the aircraft filled with smoke and the pilot screamed for everyone to escape. The flight turned around and landed back at Sydney airport shortly after takeoff, the Guardian reported.
The plane was scheduled to land in Perth, but instead it went to Sydney and passengers were told to leave the plane via the emergency slides. The decision to turn around was made after the cabin filled with smoke.
A woman claiming to be a passenger on the flight wrote on Twitter about the terrifying moment/
"Just had to evacuate my flight to Perth after engineering issues," wrote Ally Kemp. "Everyone had to exit the plane via slide onto Sydney tarmac after the cabin filled with smoke and the captain screamed evacuate. Terrifying."
Another passenger on the flight, Niamh Champion, shared a similar story. According to The Sun, she said, "And next thing he (pilot) goes, 'evacuate, evacuate, evacuate', like in a calm but firm, loud voice. So instantly everyone jumps off and they're thinking, 'Oh my God. I thought there was smoke, or a fire or, you know, something was happening.'"
A statement released by Qantas explained, "Qantas engineers are working to determine the cause of a hydraulic fluid leak on board one of its Airbus A330s, which resulted in an evacuation of the aircraft at Sydney Airport. QF575 departed Sydney for Perth at 8:45 a.m. this morning. Approximately 20 minutes into the flight, the Captain received a cockpit alert for one of three hydraulic systems on the aircraft. The Captain elected to return to Sydney and the aircraft landed safely shortly afterward. No emergency was declared."
The statement added that while some passengers may have mistaken a haze that appeared in the cabin for smoke, there was no fire.
"Two passengers were treated for injuries sustained from using the slides and another passenger was taken to hospital as a precaution," the statement continued. "Some customers reported sore eyes and itchy throats."
Qantas Fleet Safety Captain Debbie Slade said: "We totally understand this would have been a very unusual and probably alarming experience for our customers, so we thank them for giving the crew their full cooperation. The crew did a great job of putting their training into action and following the procedures for a set of circumstances like this. We'll investigate exactly what happened, including liaising with Airbus, before this aircraft is returned to service."
