VA938 BNE-SYD diverts to NTL with full emergency

[justinbrett]

Interesting events here in Newcastle this afternoon. VA938 (BNE-SYD) diverted into NTL with a full emergency. Suspected fire in the cargo hold, apparently.

I passed at least 20 emergency vehicles heading to the airport just now, all with their lights and sirens on.

It landed safety a short time ago.

 

[AIRwin]

Aircraft was VH-VOT:
VH-VOT - Boeing 737-8FE - Virgin Australia - Flightradar24

Looks like the next flight it was scheduled to operate (VA850 SYD-MEL) has been cancelled.

 

[CPMaverick]

Emergency landing for Virgin Australia flight bound for Sydney

Unspecified warning light related to the cargo hold.

 

[jb747]

You really have to wonder if the media read what they write....

A Virgin Australia flight has made an emergency landing after a warning light was activated in the cargo hold.

If the warning light was in the cargo hold, how would you ever see it?

How about a warning light in the coughpit, relating to a system in the cargo hold. I expect a fair bet would be a cargo smoke detector.

 

[Danger]

You really have to wonder if the media read what they write....


If the warning light was in the cargo hold, how would you ever see it?

How about a warning light in the coughpit, relating to a system in the cargo hold. I expect a fair bet would be a cargo smoke detector.

Simple sentence structure. ". . . a warning light in the cargo hold was activated" would have sufficed. Half-decent English language skills are a rarity these days.

 

[justinbrett]

Most of the media outlets were saying it diverted to RAAF Base Williamtown near Newcastle. As if the divert was so urgent it had to divert to a RAAF Base.

Yeah it's technically true, but they could have just written it was diverted to Newcastle Airport. The fact that Newcastle Airport is co-located with RAAF Williamtown is irrelevant. Last time I checked, the airlines sell tickets to Newcastle, not RAAF Williamtown.

 

[Saab34]

RAAF or NTL either way there its still only one Runway!

 

[justinbrett]

RAAF or NTL either way there its still only one Runway!

Yep, we know that. But as I said, Qantas doesn’t sell tickets to RAAF Darwin, RAAF Townsville or RAAF Williamtown. Like Hickham and Honolulu international. Most people use the civilian airport names when being handled by the civilian airport facilities.

 

[AviatorInsight]

Ended up being a false alarm. Aircraft was cleared of any smoke of fire.

 

[jb747]

Ended up being a false alarm. Aircraft was cleared of any smoke of fire.

Which is good.

Thankfully the vast majority of these alarms are false. A real cargo fire falls into the worst nightmare category.