Howard's plane in Iraq emergency landing

Sunday Mar 18 08:29 AEDT

Prime Minister John Howard's plane was forced into an emergency landing in Iraq on Saturday after it filled with smoke.

The C130 Hercules landed at an army base 300km south-east of Baghdad after a steep descent.

Mr Howard was rushed from the plane.

The plane carrying Mr Howard and 30 people including military personnel and media, filled with smoke soon after take-off at Talil air base and turned around as the plane hit an altitude of about 5,000 feet.

The pilot made a rapid descent as passengers, wearing emergency gas masks, braced themselves for the landing.

By the time the plane came to a shuddering halt on the tarmac two minutes later, the smoke had engulfed the cabin.

Although shaken, Mr Howard was unhurt by the ordeal and continued his trip to Baghdad by boarding a second aircraft 20 minutes later.

It was Mr Howard's second visit to a war zone in 48 hours after an earlier visit to Afghanistan.

On the tarmac he said, "I'm fine."

Air Flight Marshall Houston later said: "It was a precautionary landing, a PAN was declared and the pilot requested an immediate landing."

News of the scare leaked out on Friday night despite difficult communication lines.

After safely landing in Baghdad, Mr Howard was whisked straight from the airport tarmac to a waiting Black Hawk helicopter.

He was then rushed at a height of 100m over the city to the secure diplomatic "green zone".

Mr Howard has never visited the two war zones together before and his plans were cloaked in secrecy and involved a departure from Japan after security talks with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

©AAP 2007

Not a place I`d like to get caught out in the open in.