A bogged QantasLink aircraft has been removed from soft ground at the Rockhampton Airport, five days after it became stuck while taxiing.
A Qantas spokesperson said flight QF1798, travelling into Rockhampton from Brisbane, landed normally on Monday night.
But while taxiing at low speed to the parking bay, the pilot "inadvertently guided the aircraft across soft ground and became stuck just before the terminal", the spokesperson said.
The ABC understands the plane was moved on Saturday afternoon, after the airline's engineering team had worked on the issue throughout the week.
A Qantas spokesperson previously said the retrieval required specialist equipment not currently in Rockhampton.
'A screaming halt'
Qantas confirmed it was investigating the incident, while the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) said it was gathering further information to inform any decision on a potential investigation.
No-one was injured, and customers disembarked the Boeing 717 aircraft normally via stairs, including Rockhampton local Gillian Koch.
"It landed perfectly, brilliantly," Ms Koch said.
"But we still didn't know that it was where it was. It certainly wasn't any issue, the staff were just brilliant."
Ms Kosh said she only realised the plane was bogged when they got to the door at the top of the stairs to disembark.
"To be brutally honest, we laughed," she said.
"We had a pretty rough day already so we actually just laughed thinking 'what else could go [wrong]?'"
Delicate recovery operation
Neil Hansford, aviation analyst and chairman of Strategic Aviation Solutions, said situations like this did not happen very often.
"More generally the problem is of aircraft going over the end of the runway," he said.
"In developed countries you don't find incursions like this happening very often, and I've not heard of one like this in Australia in my history in aviation."
Mr Hansford agreed recovery of an aircraft in this situation was delicate.
"You've probably got about 50 tonnes spread over those four tyres, and the wheels are half in," Mr Hansford said.
"All the weight, the weight of the engines in the tail, are all over these wheels that [were] bogged."
Mr Hansford said going forward it would be a good idea to dig out the small area of grass where the plane was bogged and replace it with load-bearing concrete.
"Common sense would tell you it should have been done because it's adjacent to a taxiway where you've got turning, and aircraft have been getting larger," he said.
Rockhampton Regional Council, which owns and runs the airport, has been contacted for comment.
While Qantas said passengers returning to Brisbane on Monday evening had a minor delay before travelling on an alternative aircraft, the ABC understands the bogged aircraft had not caused delays to any other flights.
