more QF drama..

[Montague S]

doesn't get much better...

A BRISBANE-bound Qantas aircraft has run into mechanical problems - the third incident the airline has experienced in just over three days.
The Boeing 737 flying from Sydney with 155 passengers was towed from the runway after a hydraulics failure during Sunday night's landing.

A back-up system cut in but the plane was pulled to the terminal as a precautionary measure.
One engineering source said a "large pipe - a kind of artery" failed on the primary system.

A Qantas spokesman confirmed the incident on flight QF548, aboard a 737-800 which is a relatively new plane.

A passenger said cabin crew had confided they did not feel as safe working for the airline because they believed maintenance was being done offshore or parts were not changed as frequently as they should.

"I was told that too often too many little things were going wrong and planes were an accident just waiting to happen," the passenger said.

A retired engineer told The Courier-Mail too many "pencil inspections" were occurring with Qantas planes.

"It involves someone ticking off a document to say something has been done when it has not," he said.

After the Brisbane incident, staff were told not to speak out because of Friday's adverse publicity when a jumbo jet made an emergency landing in Manilla with part of the fuselage blown away.

Passengers were starved of oxygen for several minutes after supplies were lost.

Both Qantas and the Australian Transport Safety Bureau yesterday refused to comment on claims by an aircraft engineer that oxygen was not available to the 346 passengers.

The engineer, who cannot be identified, said the three intact passenger supply cylinders vented their contents into the atmosphere after a regulator blew off the top of a fourth tank.

Passengers said several children wearing gas masks turned blue during the 10 minutes it took the plane to descend from 29,000 feet to a safe breathing level of 14,000 feet.

Blue skin is a strong indicator of lack of oxygen in the blood.

On Monday night, a Melbourne-bound Qantas plane had to return to Adelaide because doors covering the nose wheel bay did not close properly after take-off.

http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegrap...001021,00.html

[Adrian B]

and yet another 'issue' as stated in th Herald Sun

Qantas jet 'flew low on fuel' over Victoria

Quote


QANTAS'S nightmare has worsened with news that a 737 appeared to be low on fuel before the pilot realised reserve fuel pump switches were off.

The bungle, which occurred on August 11 when the airliner was en route from Perth to Sydney, saw the Australian Transport Safety Bureau classify the fuel scare as a "serious incident", which remains under investigation.

The news is yet another embarrassment for Qantas after a jumbo had to make an emergency landing in Manila on Friday when a gaping hole was ripped in the fuselage.

And on Monday, a 767 flying to Melbourne had to return to Adelaide after a landing gear door had malfunctioned.

An October 11 ATSB report on the fuel bungle stated: "The main fuel tanks were low on fuel and the investigation estimated there was about 100kg in each.

"The pilot in command observed the centre tank fuel pump switches on the forward overhead panel were selected to the 'off' position and he immediately selected them to the 'on' position."

The centre fuel tank held a reserve of 4700kg.

The crew discussed the problem and confirmed the reserves would get the aircraft safely to Sydney.

The 737-476, able to carry up to 150 passengers, was 50km northwest of Swan Hill - almost three hours into its flight - when the error was identified.

Qantas chief pilot Capt Chris Manning said the incident was taken "extremely seriously".




The rest of the article refers to previously mentioned posts.

[Montague S]

Originally Posted by Adrian B

and yet another 'issue' as stated in th Herald Sun

Qantas jet 'flew low on fuel' over Victoria

Quote


QANTAS'S nightmare has worsened with news that a 737 appeared to be low on fuel before the pilot realised reserve fuel pump switches were off.

The bungle, which occurred on August 11 when the airliner was en route from Perth to Sydney, saw the Australian Transport Safety Bureau classify the fuel scare as a "serious incident", which remains under investigation.

The news is yet another embarrassment for Qantas after a jumbo had to make an emergency landing in Manila on Friday when a gaping hole was ripped in the fuselage.

And on Monday, a 767 flying to Melbourne had to return to Adelaide after a landing gear door had malfunctioned.

An October 11 ATSB report on the fuel bungle stated: "The main fuel tanks were low on fuel and the investigation estimated there was about 100kg in each.

"The pilot in command observed the centre tank fuel pump switches on the forward overhead panel were selected to the 'off' position and he immediately selected them to the 'on' position."

The centre fuel tank held a reserve of 4700kg.

The crew discussed the problem and confirmed the reserves would get the aircraft safely to Sydney.

The 737-476, able to carry up to 150 passengers, was 50km northwest of Swan Hill - almost three hours into its flight - when the error was identified.

Qantas chief pilot Capt Chris Manning said the incident was taken "extremely seriously".




The rest of the article refers to previously mentioned posts.

pretty sure that's from last year, Adrian.

[Adrian B]

Correct Monty as stated in the article.

Interesting how it comes out in the press now.........

Wonder if we can do search of all of all IP addresses currently searching the ATSB websites for Qantas issues. Top 20 would be media?????

Perhaps we will see something on the Mt Erebus disaster? The only link being that QF flyer over Antarctica then with a follow on article about the Manila incident., cant forget Bangkok as well.....

[Stephen Brown]

I'd hate to see what would happen in the media if they actually grabbed a scanner and sat out beside the runway for a day..there would be pandemonium.

The other week while at the beach, saw a regional carrier have nose wheel troubles on final and had to do a go around and circuits over the sea the confirm gear operation. You all know the list, go-arounds, delays, radio misundertandings..

It would be enough to fill the first five pages of the Daily Terrorgraph for weeks, and Piers Akerman would still find a way to blame the labour party!!

[Montague S]

Originally Posted by Stephen Brown

It would be enough to fill the first five pages of the Daily Terrorgraph for weeks, and Piers Akerman would still find a way to blame the labour party!!

and the hyprocritical part of it all is that he'd be doing it on ABC's Insiders show on a Sunday morning...

[Philip Argy]

Originally Posted by Darren Butterworth

Fox and Friends (US morning show) on the Fox News Channel carried this story last night as well and for three lead ins to commercial breaks before the story was shown the commentators were throwing lines out like "what going wrong with Qantas..." etc

What a beat up.

I saw that too, and they also interviewed a "former NTSB investigator" who obviously confused the CVR and the FDR when he stated that the latter had no data pertaining to the incident! At least he confirmed that OJK was not one of the 86 aircraft that the FAA had required to be inspected for defective oxygen cylinders.

[David N]

Originally Posted by Andrew M

Yep it's time to play "beat up Qantas"

This "drama" was nothing at all to be concerned about

Expect no less from the media

On Ch 10 Melbourne News the other night with the -OJK incident, they said there source was an aviation website.

I think if anyone of us were onboard these aircraft, the media would not want to hear there was nothing to worry about and no panic, just a routine landing.

I sent a text to Weekend Sunrise CH 7, when they said -OJK was the aircraft that took the Pope home.. because it had Lonreach on it.

They corrected themselves at the next news break.

Regards
David

[Anthony J]

Originally Posted by Philip Argy

I think a case can be made for educating crew on terminology to use with lay passengers to convey what is going on in a way that doesn't alarm them or leave ambiguous the seriousness of the issue. Especailly when media interview pax and report every word that is said.

Philip, Qantas crews, particularly Captains, are well trained in use of the correct terminology during PAs. We are trained to be concise and honest without being patronising or fearful. As others have said priority is still given to keeping the aircraft upright so on occasion the PAs do not have the 'touchy feely this is your Captain speaking' vibe.
I'm suprised you didn't think that Qantas would supply that training to their crews!

[Philip Argy]

I'm confident that you all use correct terminology, Anthony - I was suggesting that occasionally a little more empathy could be demonstrated, even when under pressure.

Use the Qantas nervous flyers' group (or whatever those people might be called) as your simulator pax and test their reactions to different ways of saying the same thing.

And, I hasten to add, I wasn't being critical - just sharing some thoughts.