The crew involved with the emergency landing of a flight out of Dubbo have been congratulated for their skill during the incident.
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Police, fire and ambulance crews were called to Dubbo Airport after a Regional Express (Rex) flight was forced to make an emergency landing on Thursday morning.
There were 26 people on board the flight to Sydney when the pilot reported a right engine failure alert.
After departing at 9.33am, the plane landed shortly after 10am after circling Dubbo on multiple occasions.
Dubbo Regional Council director corporate development Ken Rogers offered his congratulations to the crew for their skill and professionalism, as well as to the emergency services for their prompt response.
“I also wish to congratulate Natalie Nissan who is acting airport operations manager and her staff Ken Fisher and David Croker for the calm and professional way that they handled what could have been a disastrous situation,” Mr Rogers said.
A statement from Rex said at this stage it was not possible to tell whether the cause was from foreign object ingestion or from engine failure.
The incident comes less than a week after a propeller detached from a plane on the Albury-Sydney route, about 18 kilometres from Sydney airport.
However, Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) spokesperson Peter Gibson said Thursday’s incident was in no way linked to propeller troubles with other planes.
Mr Gibson said Rex’s engineers would look at the plane to determine what caused the right hand engine to overheat, before they passed on a report to the CASA.
A statement from Orana Local Area Command outlined the incident.
“Police from Dubbo, along with NSW Fire and Rescue and NSW Ambulance officers, attended Dubbo Airport about 10am today,” it read.
“It was reported that a Saab 340 aircraft approaching Dubbo, operated by REX Airlines, was experiencing engine trouble and was awaiting emergency landing instructions.
“At the time the aircraft had 23 passengers and 3 crew on-board en-route from Sydney.
“The emergency response plan for airport emergencies was activated and once emergency agencies were in place at the airport; the aircraft made a successful landing with one engine shutdown.
“The captain described the landing as "normal" and according to procedure.
“None of the passengers or crew were injured and none presented for treatment to NSW Ambulance staff.
“The matter will now be investigated by CASA and the aircraft grounded pending the outcome of the investigation.
"The response from the emergency services and airport staff was both professional and organised, and well prepared for any outcome that may have occurred as a result of the aircraft landing under unfavorable conditions such as the engine failure.
On this occasion nothing more was needed from emergency services other than their presence.
“The Dubbo community are lucky to have a well run facility such as the airport and can relish in the knowledge that the emergency services are well-trained and prepared for any emergency that may occur at the airport".