Dunedin Air New Zealand flight aborted during take-off

Passengers aboard flight NZ690 from Dunedin to Wellington were delayed for an hour. Photo / Supplied

An Air New Zealand flight forced to abort take-off due to a steering malfunction left passengers feeling frightened after hearing “banging and crashing” noises.

Passengers aboard flight NZ690 from Dunedin to Wellington were delayed for an hour, including Grant Robertson and Winston Peters, who were both spotted aboard the flight.

An Air New Zealand spokeswoman said the aircraft returned to the gate to be checked over by engineers for “a potential steering concern”.

The aircraft was cleared shortly after returning to the gate and the flight departed for Wellington about an hour later.

Helen Barnes, a passenger aboard the A320 jet, said the experience was “probably one of the worst things that’s ever happened when I’ve flown”.

The flight was scheduled for take-off at 5.25pm on Sunday. As the plane hurtled down the runway, she said it started shuddering and she could hear metallic grinding noises.

The plane started to veer left until the pilot slammed on the brakes.

She said the flight attendants told them to stay put, not to be alarmed and that the captain would update them shortly as they remained on the tarmac.

“Everyone went, ‘Oh God’,” Barnes said.

“It was making a hell of a lot of noise.”

The plane returned to the terminal and an engineer entered the cockpit to investigate. An hour later, the captain confirmed that the steering had jammed.

After reboarding and commencing take-off a second time, Barnes said the plane made the same loud noise once again.

“I didn’t know if we would keel over, but it was really jolty.

“It sounded like something was grinding - it was pretty scary.”

She said once they were in the air everything went smoothly and they arrived in Wellington safely.