Sydney: An Air Canada flight was forced to return to Sydney airport on Thursday after crew members saw smoke coming from an oven in the galley, an airline official said.
No one on Flight AC34 was injured in the incident, which forced the pilot to dump fuel before safely landing the plane in Sydney, said Jeannie Foster, Air Canada's general manager for Australia and New Zealand.
"There was smoke seen by a crew member in an oven so the captain made the right decision and decided to come back to Sydney to check it out as a safety precaution," Foster said. "They had to dump fuel because it's a very heavy airplane with 15 hours worth of fuel to get to Canada."
Foster denied earlier reports of a fire breaking out on board.
"There was no fire at all," she said.
The flight, which was bound for Vancouver and Toronto, was carrying 264 passengers.
Bureau Report
First Published: Thursday, July 28, 2011, 09:37