Qantas flight forced to turn back due to ‘annoying’ noise

Los Angeles, California, USA - February 12, 2010: Qantas Airways A380 during engine startup at the Los Angeles International Airport.

A Qantas plane travelling from Sydney to Dallas was forced to turn back when passengers noticed a “whistling” noise coming from one of the aircraft’s doors.

The ABC reports the door seal was creating a high pitched noise in the cabin, but Qantas maintains the cabin pressure was not affected and the aircraft landed safely without incident.

The captain made the decision to turn back in the interest of passenger comfort.

Passengers report they were three hours into the flight, which is one of the longest on offer from the airline, when the plane was diverted.

At just over 15 hours, the Sydney to Dallas route is the second longest on offer from Qantas so passengers would have had to endure the noise for a further 10 hours.

On top of this, the flight length also meant that a significant amount of fuel had to be dumped into the ocean in order to make a safe landing.

One passenger told 2GB the noise was “unbearable”.

“They just basically (said) the noise was too great. It was presumably a seal, and the safest thing to do would be to turn around and go back,” he said.

A Qantas spokesman told News Corp that passengers were transferred onto a different aircraft to depart at 7:30 pm last night meaning they will arrive in Dallas approximately six hours late.

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