A Qantas A330 operating a flight from Sydney to Shanghai on February 18 returned to Sydney after burning off fuel due to a hydraulic issue which prevented the pilots from fully retracting the aircraft’s landing gear.
Qantas says that the aircraft took off at 11:30am, and after the problem was noted by the pilots, the aircraft was directed over the Tasman Sea for approximately two hours to burn excess fuel before landing safely at 3pm. Passengers on the service were then transferred onto another aircraft which departed for Shanghai at 4:30pm.
The airline says that at no time was there a safety issue with the aircraft, and that the captain kept all passengers informed.
