A suspected bird strike forced a Virgin Australia plane to make an emergency landing in New Zealand after one of its engines caught fire shortly after takeoff. The Melbourne-bound flight departed from Queenstown on Monday evening, and footage later showed flames coming from the Boeing 737-800.
Flight tracking websites revealed that the plane initially headed south from Queenstown instead of west to Melbourne as planned. It circled over the South Island before landing at Invercargill airport, about 150 km south of Queenstown.
The Boeing 737-800, carrying 67 passengers and six crew members, landed safely around 50 minutes after departure and was greeted by fire trucks on the tarmac. Virgin Australia’s chief operations officer, Stuart Aggs, confirmed that there were no known injuries among the passengers or crew. According to the New Zealand Herald, passengers reported seeing flames and hearing loud bangs from one of the engines. Michael Hayward described the scene, saying that shortly after takeoff, a loud bang and golden lights filled the cabin as flames burst from the right-hand engine.
Hayward noted that many passengers were anxious, with some crying out as they realized something was wrong. He saw flames intermittently shooting from the engine and later learned from the captain that the plane had hit a flock of birds. Queenstown airport’s CEO, Glen Sowry, suggested that a bird caught in the engine was the likely cause of the incident. However, confirmation would await an inspection by engineers in Invercargill.
Bird strikes are known risks but are infrequent, Sowry said, and the airport manages risks by keeping grass short and avoiding standing water. He added that the runway had been inspected two minutes before takeoff, with no bird activity recorded. Aircraft are designed to operate and land using one engine, and the Virgin Australia flight likely followed a pre-determined safe route to avoid nearby mountains. Queenstown airport confirmed that the flight encountered an issue shortly after takeoff and was diverted to Invercargill.
Passengers were accommodated overnight in Invercargill and transported back to Queenstown airport on Tuesday, where they were expected to be booked on alternative flights to Australia. According to New Zealand’s aviation regulator, the rate of bird strikes at the country’s airports is about four in every 10,000 aircraft movements.
