Emergencies
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Another Qantas Mid-Air 737-800 Emergency Scares Passengers From: The Age (more at: www.theage.com.au) Posted May 28, 2009 QF552 passenger Mark Franchi said people around him "froze" when a recorded message came over the intercom advising passengers to use oxygen masks which then deployed. "You could see on a lot of people's faces they were really terrified," Mr Franchi said. "People were breathing really hard into their masks." The plane had earlier been kept on the tarmac for 20 minutes in Sydney for what passengers were told was "a technical fault". A Qantas spokeswoman confirmed the flight performed a faster than normal descent in response to an indication in the cockpit of a depressurisation in the cabin. The incident is one of a number of safety concerns raised on the national carrier in the past 12 months. In October last year a flight from Singapore to Perth was forced to make an emergency landing at Learmonth after experiencing a sudden change in altitude. That came three months after an emergency landing at Manila airport when a mid-air explosion tore a car-sized hole in a Qantas plane's fuselage. Federal Investigation: Qantas A-330 Nose-dives still unsolved From: Fox News (more at: foxnews.com) Posted March 19, 2009 Air safety investigators on Friday ruled out interference from a U.S. naval transmitter as the cause of a Qantas jetliner nose-diving twice off the Australian coast last year.The ongoing Australian Transport Safety Bureau investigation into the Oct. 7, 2008, flight from Singapore to Perth - in which 12 passengers and crew were seriously injured. The A330 nose-dived 650 feet in 20 seconds before the crew brought it back to the original cruising altitude of 37,000 feet The sharp drop was quickly followed by a second drop of about 400 feet in 16 seconds. In all, 44 passengers and crew were injured.Qantas CEO Alan Joyce called the emergency ``beyond Qantas' control.''. In December, the same type of unit - which feeds data about the plane's flying angle to the flight computers - malfunctioned on another A330 flying from Perth to Singapore. Qantas 747 with 213 passengers aborts takeoff – Wing Damaged From: Yahoo News (more at: news.yahoo.com) Posted: Dec. 11, 2008 A Qantas jumbo jet carrying 213 passengers aborted a flight shortly before takeoff from Sydney when an engineer spotted that one of its wings was damaged, the airline said. The New Zealand- bound Boeing 747-300 was taxiing towards the runway when damage to a right wing flap was noticed by an engineer on the ground and the pilot was alerted, Qantas said. "It was a technical issue with the wing prior to departure," an airline spokeswoman told AFP. The cause of the damage was being assessed. The incident is the latest in a series of problems suffered by Australia's troubled national airline in recent months. On Tuesday, two Qantas jumbos were damaged when they collided on the ground at a maintenance base. In October, a computer glitch caused a Qantas plane to plunge into a 200-metre mid-air nosedive, injuring more than 70 people, with some suffering broken bones. In July, a Qantas Boeing 747-400 made an emergency landing in Manila after a mid-air blast caused by an exploding oxygen bottle punched a hole in the fuselage during a flight from Hong Kong to Melbourne. Qantas Jets Collide on Australian Airport Tarmac From: Fox News (more at: www.foxnews.com) Posted Nov. 25, 2008 A Qantas 747- that was damaged by a midair explosion in July collided Tuesday with another of the airline's planes on an Australian airport tarmac, airline officials said. Both Boeing 747 jets were damaged when they ran into each other while being towed at the Qantas maintenance base at Avalon Airport outside Melbourne, Qantas general manager of engineering David Cox said in a statement. Television news footage showed that the nose of one of the jets hit the left wing of the other. "Both aircraft sustained some damage, and the extent of this is being assessed," Cox said. The maintenance staff involved had been suspended from duty pending a full inquiry, he said. Qantas has not said how many personnel were involved. On July 25, an oxygen tank exploded aboard one of the jets, ripping a hole in the fuselage and causing rapid cabin decompression as the plane flew over the South China Sea. The collision is the latest in a series of accidents and malfunctions in recent months that have embarrassed Qantas and have raised questions about its maintenance standards. Qantas 767 Emergency – Wing leaks hydraulic fluid From: World News Australia (more at: news.sbs.com.au ) Posted: Aug. 3, 2008 A leak in the wing was detected on the Manila-bound Qantas flight QF 19, a Boeing 767 300 with 200 passengers on board, shortly after take off from Sydney at 1.20pm (AEST) on Saturday, an Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) spokeswoman said. The captain requested emergency landing clearance. The Manila-bound 767 began leaking hydraulic fluid from a critical steering unit on take-off from Sydney and had to circle out over the ocean to dump fuel before returning to Sydney Airport. The Flight Attendants Association has told Fairfax the latest incident is disturbing, amid concern cost-cutting and the moving of some plane servicing overseas could be putting safety at risk. "About five minutes after taking off it was very obvious the plane was very low in the sky. It was very strange," a passenger told Fairfax. "For 45 minutes we did not know what was going on." "On inspection, engineers determined that fluid was coming from the spoiler actuator” a Qantas spokeswoman told AAP. Qantas 737 Emergency: Landing gear failure From The Herald Sun (more at: Heardsun.com.au) posted July 29, 2008 A Qantas jet was forced to make an emergency landing at Adelaide airport overnight because of a mechanical problem with the landing gear during a flight to Melbourne, reports said. Passengers said a door opened causing "chaos" in the cabin of the Boeing 737- 800, which left Adelaide at 6:08pm. Qantas flight 692 operating between Adelaide and Melbourne performed a routine 'air turn-back' shortly after take-off, due to an indication of one of the landing gear doors failing to retract," a spokeswoman told AFP. Qantas 747 Disaster- Oxygen tank explodes mid-air with 346 passengers From The Herald Sun (more at: Heraldsun.com.au) posted July 31, 2008 A global investigation was launched into what caused a giant hole in the Qantas 747-400 at 9000meters (27,000 ft). An exploding oxygen tank or luggage item or puncture caused by a loose panel were cited as possible causes as experts rejected corrosion as being to blame. The Manila Airport operations officer, Ding Lima, told local radio the plane lost cabin pressure shortly after takeoff from Hong Kong and the pilot radioed for an emergency landing. "There is a big hole in the belly of the aircraft near the right wing about three metres in diameter," he said. "Upon disembarkation, there were some passengers who vomited. You can see in their faces that they were really scared." During the emergency, part of the plane's flooring gave way, exposing some of the cargo in the hold, he said. Part of the ceiling also collapsed. Passengers told of their worries about the 17-year-old jumbo. David Saunders, of St Kilda, said he had a bad feeling about the plane. "The first thing I saw on the plane was a panel hanging off," he said. "Then I saw the seal on the door looked old and worn, then I noticed there was water coming through the ceiling. "I thought I was going to die. I thought we were going down into the sea.” Passengers had spent a nervous hour on board after hearing a large bang. The cabin lost pressure, oxygen masks dropped, and the aircraft plunged 20,000 feet in a controlled manoeuvre. The Boeing 747 438 Longreach was flying from Hong Kong to Melbourne with 346 passengers when it was forced to make an emergency landing. Melbourne passenger Brendan McClements told the Herald it was calm on board before the bang, "then wind [blew] through the cabin and then the masks dropped and no-one knew what was going on.'. Another passenger, Sarah Lucas, said she was shocked to see a gash of between 1.8 and 2.4 metres where the wing joins the fuselage. "We were in the business class cabin and we heard a loud bang. We thought one of the doors had become open because there was a lot of papers rushing through the cabin … it felt like a gush of wind," Ms Lucas said. "The plane began to fall quite quickly and then it levelled out." Ms Lucas said the plane seemed to lose pressure for about five minutes before stabilising. "I didn't realise how bad it was until we got down," she said. She said the pilot had made announcements to flight crew throughout the incident but passengers had not been told what had happened. Channel 7 News: Qantas Safety record is Shaky From: News Australia - Channel 7 (http://au.news.yahoo.com) Posted: April 9, 2008 Qantas has gone silent on its safety record following a channel 7 News investigation that uncovered documents suggesting maintenance problems. [Ed: this follows 6 months with 7 major mis-haps, emergency landings and major safety problems] [Click on Image for full story] Qantas 747 Emergency Landing in Adelaide: Window Breaks From: Brisbane Times (www.brisbanetimes.com.au) Posted April 2008 A Boeing 747 flying from Perth to Sydney was forced to make the unscheduled landing when the window "popped", a passenger said. "A window in the business class section popped mid-air," said the passenger. "The pilot got people to sit down and fasten their seat belts”. The passenger said the plane landed safely in Adelaide where it was met on the tarmac by a full suite of emergency service vehicles, but that no one had been injured. It was the latest in a string of mechanical problems or gear failure incidents which have beset Qantas planes this year. On January 7, a Qantas Boeing 747 carrying more than 300 people lost power while approaching Bangkok. On February 20, a plane's landing gear failed on a Qantas flight from Gladstone to Rockhampton in Queensland. Then on March 25, an international Qantas flight carrying 232 passengers was forced to abort its takeoff at Los Angeles. In July last year, The Australian newspaper reported that staples were used to hold wiring in place on a Qantas 747-400. This came days after a tyre burst on a Qantas plane landing at Sydney domestic airport, and an engine panel fell from QF415 upon landing at Melbourne. Qantas 767 from Darwin Near-Crash: Lands at 350 kph From: Anonymous (sydney.indymedia.org.au ) Posted Mar. 27, 2008 I was travelling to Sydney on QF829 this morning from Darwin to Sydney. The take-off seemed odd with the plane levelling out at what seemed way too soon. The flight was OK but coming in to land, the screen was left on showing the plane's speed. Everyone was talking about how we were coming in too fast. The landing speed for the 767 is 200kph or less, depending on weight being carried. The plane landed with a big bump, too close to the end of the runway. The speed shown on the screen was 350kph. People took up the brace position as it bounced along the tarmac with the wings nearly hitting the ground. Everyone thought we would crash. We were thrown forward in our seats as the plane hit the ground. The noise of the reversed engines was shocking. The plane ended up at the end of the runway way too close to the ocean. The pilot did a violent U-turn to get back to the terminal. He started to chat about the weather but his voice sounded panicked. There was definitely something wrong with the plane - either before landing, or having been damaged during the landing- as QF411 to Melbourne was cancelled. The 767 has had several problems including mechanical problems with the wing flaps. Wing flap support structures have fallen off in the past. Qantas 767 Engine Fire Disclosed From: Airliners (us.airliners.net) Posted April 11, 2008 On February 19, last year, Qantas QF25 MEL-AKL-LAX suffered an inflight engine fire on engine #1 and made a return to AKL. They requested fans to cool the brakes as they' expected to be coming in extremely heavy. To lessen load the plane was dumping fuel. The passengers on the plane was stranded for over one day. QF25 left finally at about 0915 the next morning, QF swapped VH-OJE from QF26 to MEL with QF25 . Interestingly that was the 3rd time the passengers boarded their flight, as they were previously boarded, and then offloaded to swap aircraft. Qantas Emergency - jet blows 3 tyres in Los Angeles From: AAP and Sydney Morning Herald (posted Mar. 25, 2008) QANTAS has had its fourth safety scare in one month. The airline that once had an enviable safety record was involved in an incident at Los Angeles Airport yesterday when three tyres on one of its 747s blew out while attempting to take off. "Due to a cockpit alert the aircraft operating Qantas Flight 12 from Los Angeles to Sydney rejected take-off at 11pm local time," a Qantas spokeswoman said. "As a result the aircraft experienced damage to three of its landing gear tyres and 217 passengers disembarked on the taxi way by mobile stairs and were bused to the terminal." The Qantas spokeswoman said the passengers were taken to hotels. Earlier this month hundreds of passengers were forced to wait 36 hours at New Delhi Airport after their Qantas flight from Singapore to London was forced to land because of a technical problem. That was a day after a Sydney Airport runway had to be cleared after a Qantas flight from Cairns began leaking oil during its descent. A few days earlier a Qantas 737 flight from Townsville landed at Brisbane Airport with smoke coming from its landing gear. These incidents pale in comparison to the 747 that lost almost all power on its descent into Bangkok in January. It was discovered that water leaking through a drip shield in the galley shut down three of the four power generation units. Plane leak found - Saves Qantas 767 from Disaster From: Sydeny Morning Herald (posted March 5, 2008) A Qantas pilot refused to fly out of Sydney until a sink blocked with coffee grounds was cleared. He feared the blocked sink would endanger the safety of the passengers and the aircraft itself. This ‘revelation’ followed the incident last month where a water spillage on a Qantas flight to Bangkok caused the plane to lose all electrical power. Although investigations into the mishap are underway, initial reports indicated that it was water from a blocked sink that leaked through a cracked drip tray onto the main generators. On the pilot’s insistence, maintenance staff checked the plane and discovered that the drip tray was indeed cracked in exactly the same place as the QF2 flight to Bangkok. Qantas Emergency landing- 390 People stuck in Dehli From: www.newkerala.com & the Australian (www.theaustralian.news.com.au) March 3, 2008 Nearly 400 people onboard a 14-hour Singapore-London Qantas flight were forced to spend two days in the same clothes in scorching Delhi heat, after the plane made an unscheduled landing at the Indira Gandhi International Airport. "Passengers were required to remain on the plane for over six hours. We have still not been able get our baggage, so being in the same clothes for over two days in the Indian heat is becoming uncomfortable," the news.com.au quoted the unidentified passenger as saying. He added: "The biggest disappointment from this whole experience is the lack of information coming from Qantas. And even through repeated calls to Qantas in Australia, the UK and India, no information was forthcoming." Qantas engineering manager David Cox told NEWS.com.au "The aircraft was diverted to Delhi due to technical problems with one of its engines". Qantas said to the Newspaper, The Austalian, that the delay to the Qantas passengers was "nothing unusual". Smoke Pours out of Brisbane Plane From: News Australia (www.news.com.au) Feb, 28, 2008 A Qantas jet caused alarm at Brisbane's domestic airport today when smoke poured from its landing gear as it touched down on the tarmac.A spokesman from Qantas said the smoke had been caused by hydraulic fluid leaking onto the tyres of flight 969 from Townsville. The flight was supposed to take off for Mt Isa at 8.35am but the plane remained grounded for closer inspection. Qantas plane water damaged - 59 passengers stranded Submitted by Travis, Feb. 26, 2008 from: (www.gladstoneobserver.com.au) FIVE hours and 20 minutes was the length of time QantasLink passengers were forced to wait at Gladstone Airport yesterday after their QF2349 flight to Brisbane was grounded.It is the third incident this month in which QantasLink Dash-8 aircrafts departing from Gladstone have experienced 'technical problems' causing interruptions to the carriers services, and considerable delay to its passengers. Not everyone was as understanding as the grounded passengers yesterday with a source close to the airport saying the situation with QantasLink was getting ridiculous. 'Delays and issues like this are becoming a regular occurrence at Gladstone Airport now,' he said. 'You'd be lucky if that QF2349 flight was on-time on at most four occasions in the past month. 'Something needs to be done and soon.' Passengers delayed at the airport yesterday said they were told by QantasLink staff that the issue with the aircraft stemmed from water damage to its instrumentation. Emergency on Qantas Dash-8: Landing Gear Fails on Plane From: The Age News (www.theage.com.au) Feb. 20, 2008 A Qantas flight from Gladstone to Rockhampton in central Queensland was forced to circle for almost an hour after a hydraulics failure. The Dash-8 aircraft circled Rockhampton as the crew manually lowered the landing gear after the hydraulics failed, an Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) spokesman said.. The Dash-8 aircraft came under scrutiny in October last year after Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) said it would permanently discontinue flight operations with the aircraft due to a number of problems with the plane's landing gear. [Ed: This could have been predicted --See story from Oct, 30, below] Qantas Sticks with Dash-8 Problem Plane – despite 2 crashes in one week From: The Australian (www.theaustralian.news.com.au) Posted Oct. 30, 2007 Qantas will proceed with a $400 million plan to expand its fleet of turbo-prop Bombardier Q400 regional airliners, despite safety scares that have prompted a European carrier to abandon the plane. Scandinavian Airlines System said yesterday that it had decided to immediately stop flying the 72-seater plane after "repeated quality-related problems". The decision comes after airlines around the world, including the Qantas regional operator QantasLink, last month grounded their Q400 fleets after two of the planes crashed within a week [as landing gear failed] The accidents led to a global alert from Canadian manufacturer Bombardier aimed at older Q400s, prompting Qantaslink to inspect its seven aircraft. Loose nuts were discovered on the undercarriage of some planes. SAS said that the Q400 had suffered repeated problems that had led it to conclude that the plane did not match customers' expectations of punctuality. Qantas, which announced last week it would pay $400 million to acquire another 12 Q400s, said it had no plans to remove its planes from service but was continuing to monitor the situation closely. Qantas engine failure - Emergency Landing in Sydney From: D. Welch, Jan. 24th 2008 (www.theage.com.au) A Qantas passenger flight from Brisbane to Sydney lost power to its left engine and was forced make an emergency landing after a small pin came loose and shut down the engine, the transport safety bureau has reported.The Qantas 737, which can carry up to 170 people, had left Brisbane just after 6am on August 25, 2005, and was only six kilometres from Sydney Airport when flight crew noticed something was wrong, the ATSB stated in a report released today."While on approach ... with the landing gear extended, the flight crew heard unusual 'popping' noises from the left side of the aircraft," the report states. The pilot retracted the landing gear, took the plane back up to 2000 feet and advised Sydney Airport of an engine problem. A subsequent examination found that a dowel pin in a section of the plane's left engine had come loose and had been "ingested by the downstream rotating hardware", resulting in damage to a part of the engine and causing it to shutdown. Qantas Emergency - 747-jet lost all power on flight to Bangkok From: LiveNews (www.livenews.com.au) A Qantas jet has lost all power on descent into Bangkok with 340 passengers onboard. The 747 experienced a total electric failure 15 minutes from the airport, forcing pilots to switch to back-up batteries. Julian Welsh from the Transport Safety Bureau says it's an extremely dangerous situation. "It's certainly something we believe is fairly unique," he said. "We're certainly not aware that there's been another of this kind before. But certainly if there has it's a fairly unique event." Qantas 767 Engine Falls Apart during Melbourne Landing From: The Sunday Mail (news.com.au/adelaidenow) Posted July 8, 2007 Qantas tried to reassure passengers they were in no danger when an engine part fell from a Boeing 767 as it landed in Melbourne today. An engine fairing panel - a portion of the engine cover - dislodged from the plane when QF 415 touched down in Melbourne from Sydney around 9.30am. Qantas engineering executive general manager David Cox said the incident was reported to the Australian Transport Safety Bureau and the Civil Aviation Safety Authority. Qantas have had 8 crashes, 62 dead People and many close calls From: Vikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org); ABC News (www.abc.net.au); Workers Online (workers.labor.net.au) It is often claimed,that Qantas has never had a fatal accident. This statement only relates to the fact that the company has never lost a jet airliner. Between 1927 and 1951, Qantas had eight fatal accidents with the loss of 62 people. Half of these accidents occurred during World War II, when the Qantas aircraft were operating on behalf of the Royal Australian Air Force. More recent crashes and major incidents (see the daily stuff on this web site) include: On January 7, 2008, Qantas Flight 2, a 747 flight from London, lost all electrical power after water ingress caused an electrical fault. The aircraft landed safely in Bangkok using backup battery power only In May 2003: a man attempted to crash Qantas Flight 1737. Armed with filed down 15cm wooden stakes and what appeared to be a silver aerosol can, he attempted to take over the plane mid-flight. 2 Attendants were stabbed. On May 2, 2000: Flight QF128 was forced to return twice to Hong Kong airport after a warming light indicated a generator had failed. The same aircraft underwent $100 million in repairs after it overshot the runway at Bangkok. On April 22, 2000: Passengers were stranded on the tarmac in Rome after the undercarriage of a Qantas jet collapsed beneath them. On December 30, 1999: Qantas has confirmed that shortly after take-off, at about 10,000 feet, a large piece from one of its Engines fell into the ocean. On September 23, 1999, Qantas Flight 1 a 747-400 VH-OJH overran the runway in Bangkok, wheel snaps. The accident occurred while landing at Bangkok, Thailand during a heavy thunderstorm. The aircraft ended up on a golf course. The Australian Transport Safety Bureau criticized numerous inadequacies in Qantas' operational and training processes. On 24 August 1960, Super Constellation VH-EAC crashed on take off at Mauritius en route to the Cocos Islands. Take off was aborted, the aircraft ran off the runway, and was destroyed by fire. On 7 April 1949, Avro Lancastrian VH-EAS swung on landing at Dubbo during a training flight, causing the gear to collapse. The aircraft was destroyed by fire. |
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| Not affilliated with Qantas airlines - in fact, they hate us |
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