Philippines PR212 return to Sydney

[little al]

Spotted Philippine Airlines PR212 circling over Lake Illawarra this afternoon with the gear down prior to returning to Sydney. Departure was delayed by 2.5 hours, wondering if there is any connection or just coincidence?

[Matt48]

Saw video of it landing with only the inboard reversers deployed, then towed. Maybe #1 or 4 engine s/d.

[criticalmass]

Was at YWOL and watched it do a few race-track patterns before it returned to YSSY. All the gear seemed to be down, speed was approx 220-240Kts, altitude for holding was 7775 feet. Tuned around a few frequencies but didn't hear any transmissions to or from it. Crew were probably a bit busy with the A340-300 QRH anyway...or trying to work their way through the error-messages from the computers.

Not something you see every day at YWOL.

[Scratchanut]

Yeah, came over me at 1775' whilst coming lower and doing 198 knots. I figured he might have been headed to Richmond, so looked him up... and he turned back to Kingsford Smith.

[Metro man]

Apparently a landing gear problem. A 2.5 hour delay prior to departure isn't unusual when PAL stands for "Plane Always Late"