Malaysia Airlines flight forced to turn back after autopilot defect
PUBLISHED : Sunday, 14 September, 2014, 1:48pm
UPDATED : Monday, 15 September, 2014, 3:12am
Agence France-Presse in Kuala Lumpur
The airline statement said that the Boeing 738 plane, flying to Hyderabad, landed safely.
A Malaysia Airlines flight was forced to turn around due to an auto-pilot defect, landing safely early yesterday, said the carrier already reeling from the loss of two planes this year.
Flight MH198 from Kuala Lumpur to Hyderabad in India departed late on Saturday, but the Boeing 737-800 was back in Malaysia's capital almost four hours later after circling to burn fuel.
The airlines denied claims circulating in social media that the aircraft was on fire.
"The defect did not have any impact on the safety of the aircraft or passengers. However, as a precautionary measure, the operating captain decided to turn back," Malaysia's national flag carrier said in a statement.
The flight was rescheduled to depart Kuala Lumpur late yesterday.
Malaysia Airlines had a solid safety record until this year, when it lost two Boeing 777-200s.
Flight MH370 with 239 people aboard inexplicably lost contact on March 8 during a flight to Beijing. The plane is believed to have veered off course and crashed in the southern Indian Ocean, but no trace of any wreckage has been found.
Another flight, MH17, went down over conflict-torn eastern Ukraine on July 17, killing all 289 people aboard. The jet is believed to have been shot down by a missile.
Additional reporting by Xinhua
