Qantas plane gets the wobbles during takeoff

THE take-off of a Qantas A330 passenger plane has been aborted in Perth when the crew felt a sideways movement of the aircraft, the airline has said.

Sydney-bound Flight 566, with 180 passengers aboard, was racing down the runway at the domestic airport around 3.15pm today when the "rejected take-off" occurred, a Qantas spokesman said. "At about 140km/h, which is still well below take-off speed, the flight crew just detected a slight lateral movement in the aircraft which they weren't expecting," he said. "They did what we call a rejected take-off, so they basically hit the brakes and stopped the aircraft."

That caused the plane's brakes to heat up and, in line with procedure, fire appliances were called to help cool the brakes before the aircraft could return to the terminal.

The plane was back at the terminal at 4.20pm and passengers were looked after while it was determined what caused the problem and how to rectify it, the spokesman said. "There were no safety issues, the crew responded as would be expected."

It was hoped to get the flight away later on Wednesday, the spokesman said.

It is the second Qantas flight to be abandoned from Perth this week after a Melbourne-bound plane was forced to land back at Perth shortly after take-off on Monday due to an electrical fault.

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