Fumes force Australian plane to land

MELBOURNE - A Sydney-bound Virgin Blue aircraft with 122 passengers on board made an emergency landing at the Melbourne airport Friday morning after fumes were detected in the cockpit, a media report said.

About 20 minutes after the flight DJ807 took off from Melbourne at 6.30 a.m., the captain reported an unusual odour in the cockpit, the Herald Sun reported.

The aircraft landed back at the airport as a “purely precautionary measure”, Virgin Blue spokesman Colin Lippiatt said.

“Shortly after take-off, the captain detected an unusual smell and as a precautionary measure he advised passengers he would be returning to Melbourne to get it checked out,” he said.

“The engineers are trying to detect the source of the odour but the aircraft was operating as normal.”

The passengers were accommodated on other flights, the airline said.