A Qantas plane travelling from Townsville to Brisbane has made an emergency landing in Rockhampton due to a technical problem onboard which forced a rapid descent.
QF1871 descended more than 20,000 feet in a few minutes before it continued to travel at 10,000 feet, indicating a pressurisation issue.
The flight was diverted to Rockhampton, the nearest airport, and requested a priority landing, where it safely landed at 7.16am on Tuesday.
The flight had been due to land in Brisbane at 9.00am.
A Qantas spokeswoman said that passengers would be put on flights this morning to Brisbane.
The deliberate drop in altitude suggested the plane had a cabin pressurisation issue.
Slow leaks of air pressure can cause physical problems for passengers and crew due to low oxygen levels, while sudden decompression severely impacts both those on-board and potentially the structure of the aircraft.
Descending to 10,000 feet allows passengers and crew to breathe normally without having to apply oxygen masks.
An investigation into the incident has been launched.
The incident occurred just days after a Qantas plane damaged part of the runway during takeoff at Perth Airport.
Footage of Qantas flight QF71, bound for Singapore, captured on Sunday, shows the plane moving along the runway, followed by fragments of the runway being torn up and thrown into the air.
The tarmac had been freshly laid.
‘The incident impacted around 20 metres of pavement and occurred on a 110-metre section which had just been overlaid as part of a planned renewal of the 3440-metre runway,’ a Perth Airport spokesperson told Daily Mail .
‘As this was the first section completed, no other parts of the runway are impacted.