‘Technical problems’ divert Turkish Airlines flight from Cape Town to OR Tambo

A technical error on a Turkish Airlines’ flight from Cape Town to Istanbul forced the aircraft to be diverted to OR Tambo International Airport.

Once the Airbus A330-343 landed, necessary technical inspections by the airline’s technical team were conducted, according to a statement.

Passengers onboard the flight criticised the pilot for not providing enough information when the flight was diverted.

Although the technical error was not elaborated on in Turkish Airlines’ statement, eNCA reported on Friday that the plane’s landing gear did not retract.

This after the plane reportedly burnt fuel for two hours before it was redirected.

The plane’s circular flight trajectory over Cape Town can be seen on flight tracking website Flight Radar24, especially when compared to a normal flight path from Cape Town to Istanbul:

The flight path from Cape Town to Johannesburg, after the plane ran into problems. Image: flightradar.com

A normal flight path from Cape Town to Istanbul. Image: Screenshot/flightradar.com

(Compiled by Nica Schreuder)

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