Qantas black mark

 Scott Salisbury was far from impressed when his Qantas flight taxied twice before aborting take-off due to mechanical failure. 

Picture: BRAD FLEET

A QANTAS plane bit the dust in a mission to taxi a packed Perth-bound flight to the runway of Darwin International Airport - twice.

Flight QF793 was delayed until 8am today after the plane's engine packed it in.

One passenger, Scott Salisbury, said: "There are a lot of pissed-off people in this airport."

He said he was sick of "lame excuses about safety first" and believed the maintenance issue was a roll-on problem from last month's heavy industrial action.

QF793 was meant to take off at 2.30pm on Friday.

A Qantas spokeswoman told the NT News the crew noticed an engine control light was on as the aircraft prepared for take-off.

Passengers disembarked - to the bar - and the problem was investigated.

The same aircraft was re-boarded - but the warning light was still on.

Passengers were told a "new part" would be needed.

Mr Salisbury, who works at Adelaide River, said: "The underlying question is why is there a safety risk?

"What really pisses me off is you get on to their website and there's the nice lady telling you everything is 'back on schedule' - when really very few of my flights have been right in the past few months.

"They gave us enough information not to make us feel like total mushrooms.

"But it was all pretty low-ended."

He said he flew with Qantas about twice a week.

"It is getting annoying with flights not going on time - or at all."

He said it was the first time his plane had twice not made it on to the runway.

 http://www.ntnews.com.au