A prominent Perth mining executive has accused Qantas of seeking to downplay the seriousness of a midair scare on board a flight bound for Paraburdoo that forced an emergency landing, claiming he thought he was going to die.

Macro Metals managing director Simon Rushton said he was on board Qantas flight QF1624 from Perth on Monday evening when passengers were told to get into the brace position for landing.

The flight, which departed Perth Airport at 3.30pm, was diverted to Geraldton and landed safely after experiencing a mechanical issue.

Rushton told 6PR passengers were about one hour into the journey to Paraburdoo on a Fokker 100 at cruising altitude when the plane started to “nose over” unexpectedly halfway through service.

He said that continued for at least 10 minutes before a senior staff member exited the cabin’s cockpit and warned passengers the pilot would have to make an emergency landing.

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“Everyone felt the kind of weightlessness you get when you go over a steep incline and was sort of like, ‘what’s that?’” Rushton told 6PR.

“Then it started to go down, and the pilot came over the airwaves and said that everyone — including cabin staff — needed to immediately put their seatbelts on securely and get into the brace position.

“Everyone on that plane thought they were going to die and was texting their loved ones.”