A Qantas flight from Sydney to Queenstown appears to have made it nearly a third of the way across the Tasman Sea before being forced to divert back to Sydney last night.
An air traffic enthusiast was watching flight QF123 on flightradar24.com and said the Boeing 737-8 was supposed to leave Sydney at 4.05pm yesterday.
However, the three-hour flight did not actually take off until 5.53pm (local time).
He said it was scheduled to arrive in Queenstown at 9.05pm (NZ time), but the two-hour delay in departing meant it was never going to be able to land in Queenstown before the 10pm curfew.
‘‘I'm not sure the pilots were made aware of the curfew for whatever reason, as if they were, they surely would not have departed anyway,’’ he said.
Queenstowm Airport is known for its scenery and challenging approach to land, due to the nearby mountains and proximity to housing. So under Civil Aviation Authority rules, it only operates between 7am and 10pm daily, to avoid noise complaints.
Qantas is being approached for comment.
