Safety investigators expect to report by the end of the month on two recent in-flight equipment failures aboard OzJet aircraft.
Passengers on an Ozjet flight on Saturday were told to don lifejackets and prepare for a possible crash-landing in the ocean after a wing malfunction over Norfolk Island.
The Brisbane-to-Norfolk Island Boeing 737 flight made two approaches before it was forced to abandon the landing in bad weather and divert to Noumea.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau is investigating that incident, as well as the discovery of a broken elevator balance tab on a Boeing 737-200 on a flight from Port Moresby to Brisbane on Monday.
"The investigations into the component failures will include extracting data from the black box flight recorders from both aircraft, interviewing aircraft crew and examining the aircraft components involved," the bureau said. It expects to issue preliminary reports into the failures in 30 days.
The bureau said yesterday that OzJet had also reported a small smouldering fire in the galley area on a West Australian flight on Monday.
The Civil Aviation Safety Authority is also collecting information on the incidents, but is not proposing further action before evaluating the bureau's reports.
The safety authority will continue to monitor OzJet's operations but said there had been no significant issues raised during recent oversight of the company.
OzJet will fly between Palmerston North and Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne, replacing Air New Zealand's budget arm Freedom Air, which is being closed.
OzJet will use a more modern 737-300 for the service.
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