A Virgin Australia flight has been forced to abort off Western Australia's coast and burn off fuel before making an unplanned landing at Perth Airport.
Passengers said they spent about an hour and a half circling, with some feeling airsick as a result.
Flight VA9081 to Boolgeeda was carrying fly-in, fly-out (FIFO) workers to a Pilbara mine site, but was forced to abort and touched back down in Perth just before 9:20am.
Passengers said the captain informed them the wing's flaps were not deploying and they would have to turn back.
The flight drama left some of the FIFO workers on board the plane a bit shaken.
Leesa Craft said she had never experienced anything like it and the circling had made her feel quite unwell.
"Half an hour into the flight the pilot had come on and said that something was not happening with the wing flaps, so we had to circle and burn fuel off, and when we were coming in for landing it was going to be a super fast one," she said.
Fellow passenger Mika Bowron said the captain's announcement left her worried and she started to grip her seat.
"I thought of my kids, my family. I'm pretty scared of flying anyway," she said.
She said the circling had left her car sick.
"Every time it would turn we'd go 'here we go again'," she said.
"I was happy to be back on the ground again."
Anxious loved ones rush to airport
Fellow FIFO worker Emily Crewe said she grew concerned when she heard the plane was dumping fuel and enlisted her son's flight tracking skills to give her updates via text message.
"I was texting my son the whole time and he was checking the flight [online], so he was texting me and going 'you are 5,000 feet off the ocean' and he was letting me know what was going on," she said.
Her son, Brendan Kalin, said he "had a panic attack" when he heard of the plane's issues and booked an Uber directly to Perth Airport.
"It landed safely, I was happy about that. I don't want [my mum] to go back up there, I was just going to book an Uber and take her home" he said.
All three passengers were already booked on the next flight to the mine site.
Virgin Australia has been contacted for comment.
