Faulty equipment downs Qantas jets

[Robert Zweck]

Originally Posted by Rhys Xanthis

I dont believe the radical headline..

In todays Adelaide Advertiser it's worse....

" Qantas crew flew blind "

Unbelievable

[Adam G]

Originally Posted by Raymond Rowe

No weather radar in a DC3 and passengers who have flown them have had to live with the weather. come back from Sydney one night on a 3 and one of the worst weather storms you could fly in. We made it back.Passengers of today are just to soft.

I don't think it's the passengers, I think you'll find the Weather Radar requirements in the CAO's are the issue.

[Rhys Xanthis]

Originally Posted by Robert Zweck

In todays Adelaide Advertiser it's worse....

" Qantas crew flew blind "

Unbelievable

What a joke.

Let the rebellion start...soon!

[D Chan]

flying blind.. where's the guide dog

[Justin L]

This article is much better on the issue.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au...-23349,00.html

Airlines often good Samaritans in emergencies
Steve Creedy, Aviation writer | October 31, 2008

IT was a case of what goes around, comes around when a Qantas Boeing 747 with a faulty weather radar was led home by an Air New Zealand 777 this week.

The event, while unusual, was not unprecedented.

Qantas says one of its planes flying from London to Hong Kong offered a similar service to another carrier with a weather radar problem about two weeks ago.

"It's a good-news story from the point of view of how collaborative the whole process out there is -- whether it's Qantas, British Airways, Lufthansa, KLM, Air New Zealand or whoever," Qantas chief pilot Peter Wilson said yesterday.

"I was very pleased with how it was handled. I think it was a good outcome."

The Qantas plane was more than three hours out of Los Angeles when its flight crew received a message saying one of two weather radar systems wasn't working. The crew switched to the other system but still could not get a result.

The option of diverting to Honolulu was rejected because there was a band of cloud with storms in the area.

Returning to Los Angeles would have required fuel to be dumped and passengers would have been inconvenienced.

But the Qantas captain knew of a nearby Air New Zealand Boeing 777 en route from London and LA to Auckland and asked its flight crew for help.

The Qantas plane's navigational equipment was still fully functional and its crew had weather reports showing few problems en route to Auckland but needed help determining what was immediately ahead.

"The NZ guys passed them their route and the Qantas pilots spoke to air traffic control, arranged for a clearance and slid over to the same route that the Air New Zealand guys were on," Air New Zealand chief pilot David Morgan told The Australian.

Mr Morgan said weather radar was important when crossing the equator. "That's where you get a lot of weather," he said. "But in actual fact, talking to the captain of NZ1, he said there wasn't a great deal of weather. It was one of the better flights, he said, and very little weather avoidance was required."

The Qantas aircraft was repaired in Auckland and flew on to Sydney.

[Andrew M]

Originally Posted by Justin L.

This article is much better on the issue.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au...-23349,00.html

Of course it's better, Steve Creedy wrote it and his articles are always on the mark 10/10 Mr Creedy

It is nice that the NZ pilots helped out QF in this case, they could have denied help and forced QF to turn back to LA

[Mike W]

Originally Posted by Andrew M

It is nice that the NZ pilots helped out QF in this case, they could have denied help and forced QF to turn back to LA

I doubt any pilot would turn down this kind of request. They're all brothers (and sometimes sisters) up there in the sky.

[Andrew M]

Originally Posted by Mike W

I doubt any pilot would turn down this kind of request. They're all brothers (and sometimes sisters) up there in the sky.

Would SQ offer help to QF

[Matt_L]

Originally Posted by Andrew M

Would SQ offer help to QF

Not if its across the Pacific!

Although, if you read airliners.net you would think SQ were starting aus-usa services tomorrow and QF are starting DXB.

[D Chan]

Originally Posted by Andrew M

Would SQ offer help to QF

airlines offer help to each other all the time in a lot of areas e.g. maintenance issues - lending spare parts, offering assistance during distress (emergency) etc.
This cooperation stops when we talk about marketing and strategy etc.