MELBOURNE, March 28 — A Malaysia Airlines Airbus A330 aircraft that was grounded for nearly two weeks in Melbourne has returned to Kuala Lumpur.

Malaysia Airlines Flight 5160, operating a regular route from Kuala Lumpur to Melbourne, made a hard landing at Melbourne Airport on March 14. The aircraft remained stranded at the airport while the Australian Transport Safety Bureau investigated its flight records and interviewed the flight crew.

The airplane took off for Darwin on Thursday en route back to Kuala Lumpur for repairs and flew slowly and at a lower altitude as a precaution. Flightaware data shows that the aircraft was flying at an altitude of 4,998 metres and flying at 292 knots while it crossed Australia’s Lake Eyre. Other airplanes flying on the same route that day were flying at an altitude of 10,363 metres and at 460 knots. It landed at Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport near Kuala Lumpur at 2.29 pm local time yesterday.

Hard landings do not occur often with Airbus passenger jets. The ATSB investigated the aircraft’s flight records, and the plane will now go through a more extensive examination in Kuala Lumpur. — Reuters

A traveller stands at the viewing gallery overlooking Malaysian Airline System (MAS) aircrafts at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang outside Kuala Lumpur in this December 23, 2009 file photo. — Reuters pic