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Eva Air's BR395 flight from Taipei to HCMC as recorded by FlighRadar24.
In a video recorded by FlighRadar24, a Swedish internet-based service that shows real-time commercial aircraft flight tracking information on a map, a plane from Taipei to Ho Chi Minh City run by Taiwanese carrier EVA Air had to circle repeatedly, traveling all the way from southern Vietnam to the country’s Central Highlands and back.
As flight BR395 nearly reached HCMC airspace in the south on Sunday afternoon, it had to head back north and circle over Dak Lak, Dak Nong and Lam Dong provinces.
When it finally returned to HCMC, it had to move straight to the west of the city before heading back.
It kept circling over Dong Nai Province that borders the city before eventually landing at Tan Son Nhat International Airport.
In all, it took passengers on the flight more than seven hours from Taipei to HCMC, a route that normally lasts only three hours on average.
Flight VJ322 of Vietjet Air arrived from Phu Quoc Island with 217 passengers and landed at around noon at Tan Son Nhat airport before skidding off the runway into a grass field at 12:24 p.m on Sunday.
The low-cost airline blamed the heavy rain and strong winds for the accident, which caused no injuries among passengers or crew, but had affected dozens of other flights since the runway is the only one currently in operation with the other being closed for upgrades.
Also via the FlightRadar24 application, users had found out the long and complicated flight route of other carriers following the impacts of the Vietjet accident.
Another flight from Taipei had to circle in the shape of the number eight before returning to the starting point while a flight from Vietnam’s central town of Hue had to create a ribbon-shaped track in the sky.
Two foreign pilots, one Indian and one Sri Lankan, on the Vietjet Air flight have had their licenses seized.
The Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam (CAAV) announced this without disclosing their names. It also set up an inspection team to investigate the incident, decode the black box of the Airbus A321neo aircraft and analyze flight data.
The six flight attendants on the trip have also been suspended, though it is not clear why.
