A faulty indicator light was the reason a flight circled Tauranga airport for almost two hours last night, says Air New Zealand.
Photo: RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly
"We circled two or three times before we heard from the captain, who said that there was some kind of technical malfunction that they needed to sort out," said John Hurihanganui.
He said passengers were getting increasingly uncomfortable which wasn't helped by the lack of information from the crew.
"I could hear people around me and behind me starting to raise their voices, I guess in panic."
Air New Zealand said several passes of the airfield were made in order for the control tower to make a visual check of the light, which is associated with the landing gear.
"Despite what was a high workload in the cockpit, the pilots briefed passengers on two separate occasions," said a spokesperson for the airline.
The first obligation of the pilot is to ensure the safe operation of the aircraft while they work through the issue," said the spokesperson.
"Once the flight was safely on the ground, all passengers were invited into the Air New Zealand lounge at Tauranga airport and 40 of the 50 passengers accepted this invitation.
"They were given a full debrief on the situation by an Air New Zealand pilot who outlined the safety and engineering processes our pilots and crew followed as they prepared to land the aircraft and answered any questions the passengers had."
Air New Zealand did not respond to the passenger's criticism of crew on the flight.
