Passengers on a Malaysia Airlines (MAS) fight to Perth on Sunday had thought that the worst was over after their plane slammed its brakes to a sudden halt on the runway of the Kuala Lumpur International Airport.

They were later transferred to another plane, but 20 minutes after lift-off, one of the engines made a “strange snarling sounds” resulting in the plane turning back to KLIA.

“This engine failure must have been serious because there was smoke in the cabin, lights were flashing and alarms were sounding. In fact when the plane landed, all emergency vehicles were on stand-by beside the runway,” said lawyer Americk Sidhu, whose wife was on board.

The long and frightening night for the 180 passengers and crew began at 6pm when MH127 was forced to abort its take-off at the end of the runway.

Perth newspaper West Australian quoted a passenger with some aviation knowledge who said the pilots “applied full brake and thrust reverse and activated the lift dumpers on the wing to pull up”.

“The pilots just told us there was a hydraulic failure as we taxied back to the terminal,” said the passenger, who wanted to remain anonymous.

Concerns over maintenance of planes

The passengers then waited for more than an hour on the plane while engineers attempted to fix the problem.

However, they were later transferred to another plane. But 20 minutes after take-off, the right engine began making loud noises.

“It went on for 10 minutes when the captain announced that he was heading back to Kuala Lumpur,” an insider told the West Australian.

According to the Perth-based daily, the cabin lights began to flicker to add to passengers’ concerns and the captain said the right engine had failed.

“Adding to the drama, in the pre-landing briefing the senior flight attendant said: ‘We are hoping for the best.’”

Americk hoped that no compromises were made in regards to the maintenance of MAS planes - the two aircrafts involved were both Airbus A330.

MAS has three A330-200s and 11 A330-300s in its fleet.

“What is of concern to me, apart from the safety of my wife and the other passengers and crew, is the total lack of clarity and a reasonable explanation from MAS as to the circumstances surrounding both these incidents,” said Americk.

MAS issues apology to passengers

MAS operations director Tajuden Abu Bakar had apologised for the inconvenience to the passengers.

He said that in the first incident the plane had to “abandon its take-off attempt as a safety precaution when one of its three hydraulic systems sensed a fault”.

“In order to minimise the delay, passengers were transferred to another aircraft and the flight departed without any problems. It was at the top of climb that the right engine began to exhibit some vibration.

“Following the routine operating procedure, the pilot shut down the engine and proceeded to return to base for follow-up action. The landing was normal. Our records show that there is no history of any defect with this engine prior to the flight.”

According to Tajuden, the passengers were provided with accommodation at various hotels in Kuala Lumpur for the night.

MH127 finally departed for Perth at 10.07am the next day and arrived in Perth at 3.20pm.