Vietnam plane circles after technical hitch HANOI, March 28 (Reuters) - A plane operated by a Vietnamese airline spent two hours in the air over the southern city of Ho Chi Minh on Tuesday after technical problems forced it to abandon a trip to Hanoi, a passenger and an aviation official said. The senior aviation official told Reuters the MD-82 built in 1996 by McDonnell Douglas Corp and operated by Pacific Airlines had encountered "technical problems."

"We are not totally sure of the breakdown but it is expected that our technicians would fix it by tomorrow," he said. "The flying around in airspace was aimed to reduce fuel in the plane so it would meet the right weight to land."

A passenger on the aircraft said it had to return 30 minutes after taking off late on Tuesday morning. It was unclear how many passengers were aboard.

But the MD-82 spent more than two hours flying over Ho Chi Minh City before it could land, he added.

"It was a panic here. We saw fire engines and ambulances rushing to the runway toward us," he told Reuters. "We heard a public notice saying the left engine got a problem."

Officials at Pacific Airlines, Vietnam's sole joint-stock airline, said stranded passengers would stay overnight in Ho Chi Minh City and take Wednesday's first flight to Hanoi.

State-run rival and flag carrier Vietnam Airlines dwarfs Pacific Airlines, which has state-owned firms as shareholders and flies to both domestic and international destinations.

Earlier this month Vietnam Airlines made a public apology for a number of disruptions to domestic and international flights, blaming bad weather and technical problems.

http://abcnews.go.com/wire/World/reuters20000328_727.html

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), March 28, 2000