From The Daily Blog.
150 Passengers in Mid-Air Drama. Reports today of yesterdays mid-air drama in which 150 passengers spent 70 terrifying minutes flying without the wheels down wilst the pilots wrestled with the crippled jet trying to find somewhere to land. Witnesses on the ground also told of their fears when shortly after take-off from Sydney, the landing gear disappeared into the belly of the aircraft. Bill Bogan of Sydney told us " My grandmother was on that flight going home to Melbourne. Just after the pilot did the take off trick thing, the wheels just disappeared into nowhere. I knew right then there was danger because the plane needs wheels to land". National Party Member for Western Queensland, Mr Malcolm Ecks, said "This was terrifying. After we were in the air, there was a kind of a bump noise and then I knew we were in big trouble. I've seen many pictures of aeroplanes before so I know what I'm talking about" Reports came in of how the pilots circled the entire eastern sea board for just over an hour before electing for an emergency landing at Melbourne. Myrtle McIntire tells of panicing crew memebers. "The hostessess were in a complete panic. They sort of wandered about asking the passenges if we wanted something eat. All I could think of was that I would never see my pet Chou, Moppet, again". At 3:37pm EST, the aircraft made an emergecy landing in Melbourne with airport rescue services on full emergency department standby status category 9. Fortunately there were no reported injuries. However, departmental and airline representatives have refused to comment further on this incident save for staunch denials that yesterdays incident has anything to do with the newly introduced NAS.