Aircraft mishaps under scrutiny - Australia.

A QANTAS flight from Melbourne was forced to circle Brisbane for so long it ran dangerously low on fuel, a report has warned the Australian Transport Safety Bureau.

The report said a Boeing 737-838 spent at least 25 minutes in a holding pattern at the direction of Air Traffic Control on July 4.

The delay burnt up a considerable amount of fuel, reducing the aircraft's supply to 500kg below the required reserve level.

A Qantas spokeswoman denied anyone was ever in danger.

"The aircraft still had 45 minutes worth of fuel on board. The Qantas standard for fuel reserves is higher than that set by the Civil Aviation Safety Authority,'' she said.

It was one of dozens of incidents reported to the ATSB in recent months involving private and commercial aircraft in Queensland.

On July 26, a dog was discovered on a QantasLink flight when it landed in Charleville and more than 200kg of undeclared freight was found on another Qantaslink flight in Brisbane.

A Virgin Australia flight was almost abandoned when a faulty in-flight entertainment system filled the aircraft with fumes, and on September 1 the taxiway and runway lights went out at Brisbane Airport as a flight was landing.

Australian Transport Safety Bureau spokesman Dan O'Malley said most of the incidents could be explained and did not warrant further investigation.

"In the case of the dog, it was likely to be a case of the animal not being recorded as freight at the point of departure,'' Mr O'Malley said.

He said the ATSB did not have the budget to investigate all incidents and tended to focus on those that would produce a useful safety message.

"We concentrate on issues that will do the most good for the most people.''

Incidents being investigated by the ATSB include a near collision involving a Cessna 182 and an unidentified glider 9km from Toowoomba Aerodrome on September 25.

The bureau is also examining the deaths of two men when their helicopter crashed while doing communications' tower maintenance near Rockhampton on September 8.

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