From what I have been told by my mate who was on this flight, there were about five hours out from DRW and the alarms kept going off in the toilets, and crew started feeling unwell from fumes and they returned to DRW, there was no smoke or flames as reported in the media.

Thanks Matt. I'm not saying it wasn't serious, just not a forced landing in the true sense of the term.

Hi Marty

Where did your mate get his "five hours out from Darwin" thought ?

According to the leading post in this thread, (part quoted below), the aircraft returned to Darwin less than three hours after taking off.

".....At least three people were taken to hospital suffering smoke inhalation soon after the plane returned to Darwin International Airport at 2.10am (CST) today.

The Airbus A330 had taken off from the same airport at 11.15pm (CST) yesterday."

And Simon Moore, commercial manager of Strategic Aviation, said the plane was 40 minutes into the eight-hour flight when the crew noticed "a strong smell within the cabin''.

From his own mouth its what he told me, he is now in Kuwait the aircraft left 24hrs later.

Forced Landing
An unexpected landing that a pilot of an aircraft has to make because of an emergency situation

Source: Dictionary of Aviation (Second Edition)

Thanks Marty - but what he told you and what was reported are vastly different - hence my question .

If the A330 had been more than 5 hours into the (8 hour) flight, it would have been a long way from Darwin and methinks there may have been other alternates available. And the round trip would therefore be nearly 11 hours !

So someone has their facts incorrect.

No worries, just going by what I was told;)

Back operating again after the recent problems ....

CS-TMT 5K0005 01/02/2009 15:35 HiFly ADF Charter A330-321

Looks like the return to Sydney from Darwin.

ACARS mode: 2 Aircraft reg: .CS-TMT
Message label: H1 Block id: 4 Msg. no: D39A
Flight id: 5K0005
Message content:-
#DFBD764R01/A33001,1,1
.CS-TMT,09FEB01,02.29.45,YPDN,YSSY,ASY005XXXX,5000,917
002,06.0,000000,SE6N03,VN6003,LXR001,000,052,052
N08.5,35003,0.821,111,0.00,111,10,0,01,111,1.48,X
N08.5,35002,0.822,111
733363
-------------------------------------[01/02/2009 15:35]