Reports of an Air New Zealand flight caught “barrelling” in heavy winds lit up social media yesterday. The flight radar of flight ANZ637 from Auckland to Queenstown shows it departed Auckland at 12.41pm and eventually aborted its landing in Queenstown before diverting to Christchurch. But not before observers noticed it was “tossed like a rag doll” in the heavy winds. “We can see the end of the runway from our house and that’s the scariest we have seen,” a Queenstown observer reported. “It looked like it was trying to do a barrel roll,” another said. “Bloody scary, and I was on the ground,” someone else replied. Another person, who was allegedly on board the flight, reported they heard “screams” inside the plane as it attempted to land before diverting. Air New Zealand has been approached for comment. A spokeswoman for Queenstown Airport acknowledged that conditions on Friday, with particularly heavy winds, were not ideal and led to several flights being diverted or delayed.
