Plane makes emergency u-turn

Terrified passengers aboard a flight forced to turn back to Auckland International Airport after an emergency say they were compensated with a $15 voucher.

The Air New Zealand flight NZ296 bound for Samoa made a u-turn after the pilot detected a problem on the plane shortly after take-off about 9.50am on Saturday, a spokeswoman said.

When it landed back at Auckland, the brakes of the aircraft started to smoke, however all 293 passengers were safe.

An Air New Zealand spokeswoman said the passengers were given ‘‘refreshment vouchers to allow them to buy something to eat while they awaited the departure of their flight to Apia, which has now departed after engineers rectified the engineering issue’’.

She also confirmed that the aircraft was towed to the gate after it landed to prevent further spillage of hydraulic fluid which could occur if the aircraft continued to taxi.

Earlier reports from emergency services suggested the brakes had sparked a fire, but the

‘‘We believe a small amount of hydraulic fluid caused by the engineering issue dripped onto the hot brakes after the aircraft landed.’’