QF2008 hydraulic failure

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In today's Courier Mail
Passengers on QF2008 Sydney to Tamworth told to brace as flight may not end on the tarmac.

Passengers on a plane forced back to Sydney sent final goodbyes to loved ones after being told their flight ‘may not end up on the runway’, and to brace for impact.
Passengers told to brace for impact after hydraulic fault on plane.
Passengers on a plane about to land in Sydney were told they may not finish on the tarmac and to brace for impact, in a terrifying moment where people called their loved ones with final goodbyes.
The Qantas flight, due to land in Tamworth on Sunday evening, left those on board shaken after their aircraft was forced to make an emergency landing at Sydney Airport due to complications with the hydraulics.
QF2008 passenger Jesse, flying from Sydney to Tamworth, said he was “highly anxious and nervous” on board the Dash 8 turboprop, which he believed “would be a fair description for most of the cabin”.
Panic first kicked in for Jesse when the pilot told passengers they were experiencing “technical issues” and may have to divert to Sydney, as the aircraft was flying “in a holding pattern around Tamworth airport”.
“That (panic) was fully exacerbated when they advised they would be doing an emergency landing and we may or may not end on tarmac,” he said.
Passengers on board Qantas flight QF2008 from Sydney to Tamworth on Sunday evening were left shaken and crew “very very frightened” following an emergency landing.
Jesse said passengers sent messages to their loved ones.“
I was literally expecting to belly dump without landing gear at Sydney airport so had sent out a couple of last messages to people.
The lady beside me had done the same,” he said.
“I’m pretty disappointed at Qantas around the whole thing, but particularly in-flight.“
With the little information there wasn’t a lot to feel positive about.
The second officer was fairly reassuring and did a much better job than the pilot in her communication.
“She was attempting to be more reassuring than the captain and had advised that we would be landing on the longest runway in Australia and that the weather was perfect in Sydney.
“She reiterated that we were having problems with hydraulic fluids and advised that we may or ‘may not end up on the runway after landing’, the crew looked very worried at that stage as were many passengers.
Radar data shows the flight was about to land in Tamworth when the hydraulic issue forced the plane back to Sydney.
“We were shown the emergency procedure and then went in to land.
There was no braking applied on landing and we were all bracing for impact as the crew yelled out ‘brace, brace, brace.’
”The plane landed at around 9:30pm.“
It was a pretty good landing, we rolled to a standstill, full emergency crews came around the plane when it landed and we stayed on the tarmac for about 15 minutes before disembarking,” Jesse said.
“During that time the pilot came out and said the hydraulic fluids had bled out which affects a lot of the systems in the aeroplane.”
A Qantas spokeswoman said at no point was the aircraft at risk of not landing on the runway.
“Passengers were informed that the aircraft may need to be towed to the gate after landing due to the hydraulic issue,” she said.
“At no point was the aircraft at risk of not landing on the runway.“
We understand this would have been a very unsettling experience for our passengers and sincerely thank them for their cooperation throughout the flight.”