A bird strike has forced a Qantas flight heading from Perth to Melbourne to turn back soon after take-off.

A Qantas spokeswoman said the Airbus A330, which took off at 11:50 a.m. landed "safe and sound" at Perth's domestic airport nearly an hour later.

All passengers were transferred to another flight.

Many were West Coast Eagles fans heading to Melbourne to see their side face Geelong in Saturday's preliminary final.

People under the flight path said they heard the birds hitting the plane.

"It was making a different noise to what other aircraft make and it sounded like a Russian tank," a Parkwood resident told Fairfax Radio.

"I looked up and as I looked up there was a big flame shooting out the back."

Another man, who works in the nearby Welshpool, said it "sounded really weird, like a fluttering sound, and of course all of us looked up and we were just joking it was in trouble".

"But then all of a sudden there was a bit of a boom, flames and a bit of rocking of the aircraft and I thought that wasn't right."

The Qantas spokeswoman denied there were any flames.