Qantas plane lands safely after mayday call over Pacific
A Qantas flight traveling from New Zealand to Sydney has landed safely on a single engine after it issued a mayday call over the Pacific Ocean SYDNEY -- A Qantas flight Travel ing from New Zealand to Sydney landed safely on a single engine after it issued a mayday call over the Pacific Ocean on Wednesday. Qantas Flight 144 with 145 passengers aboard landed at Sydney Airport from Auckland, New Zealand, after a 3.5-hour flight between the neighboring nations' most populous cities. The Boeing 737-838 “experienced an issue” with one of its two engines about an hour from Sydney, a Qantas statement said. The mayday , which is issued when a flight is in grave and imminent danger and needs immediate assistance, was downgraded to a PAN-PAN -- possible assistance needed — before the flight landed. Qantas said the pilot shut down the engine, but did not specify the problem. “While inflight engine shutdowns are rare, and would naturally be concerning for passengers, our pilots are trained to...