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AirAsia X Flight D71712
AirAsia Group chief executive officer Tan Sri Tony Fernandes was quoted by AFP, as saying, “one auto-thrust not functioning properly. Actually, okay to fly but we just returning it to base.”
In the text message to AFP, Tony called the incident a “minor issue.”
#AirAsia X passengers depart for Jeddah on another plane http://www.nst.com.my/node/72228
..SEPANG: The AirAsia X flight bound for Jeddah which had earlier today encountered a technical problem and safely landed at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2 (klia2) at 5.40pm, departed at 7.23pm.
AirAsia X Berhad in a media release said all passengers on board had been transferred to another aircraft which was scheduled for departure at 7pm.
It clarified that the aircraft had experienced a technical issue upon take-off from klia2.
“As a safety precaution, and in full compliance with all international security and safety standards, the aircraft made a turn-back and safely landed at klia2 at 5.40pm,” said AirAsia X Berhad spokesman.
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Fears after Jeddah-bound AirAsia flight turns back The flight circled the Malacca Straits due to technical… http://fb.me/75e2JSrfr
There was frenzy on social media when flight tracker FlightRadar24’s website showed an AirAsia X flight from Kuala Lumpur to Jeddah turning back to Kuala Lumpur and circling in the ocean.
With heightened sensitivities after multiple aviation disasters in the past year, Twitter users swiftly jumped onto the case with the hashtag #D7172 only to be later told to keep calm and carry on.
“There is no emergency on flight D7172. They just needed to get weight down to make a safe landing.
“A limited number of aircrafts are able to dump fuel. If you can’t dump fuel, you have to burn it to reduce weight. More fuel equals longer burning,” Flightradar24 explained on Twitter.
There is no emergency on flight #D7172. They just needed to get weight down to make a safe landing http://t.co/8su11KHZmu
— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) February 8, 2015
Confirming this, AirAsia group CEO Tony Fernandes told Bernama that the Jeddah-bound flight has returned to Kuala Lumpur International Airport and there is “nothing out of normal”.
The plane landed at KLIA at 5.40pm.
“It could have continued (its journey) to Jeddah, but we felt it was better for it to return, nothing out of the normal,” he said.
He later told AFP that there was a problem with one auto-thrust but maintained the plane for fit for flight.
http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/288686
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The source said the turn back was not declared as an emergency.
Malfunction forces AirAsia X to abort flight, turn back #AirAsia http://www.nst.com.my/node/72207
KUALA LUMPUR: An AirAsia X flight bound for Jeddah had to return to the Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2 (klia2) here earlier today due to technical difficulty.
Flight D7172 departed klia 2 at 12.43pm, shortly before the Airbus A330-343 aircraft started circling the airspace above the Straits of Malacca for hours to burn off fuel. It landed safely at klia2 at 5.37pm.
A source told the New Straits Times that the aircraft’s pilots made a request to return to base, stating technical difficulty as the reason.
http://www.nst.com.my/node/72207
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weehingthong 