Maintenance Issues
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Qantas wins concessions as Maintenance Outsourcing backfires From: Malaysian News Network (more at: www.bernama.com ) Posted May 24, 2009 Qantas will bring back from overseas all its maintenance work for the start of next year, saving more than 500 jobs in Australia. Maintenance normally done overseas on the Airbus A330 will return to Australian shores, the Australian Associated Press reported. Qantas CEO, Joyce said the key hurdle in negotiations was that the company needed maintenance crews to work longer hours to finish jobs to get the aircraft back in the air. "It's all about the ability for people to extend shifts, to be able to work on aircraft until the aircraft are repaired." Mr. Outsourcing resigns from Qantas Maintenance From: The Herald Sun (more at: www.heraldsun.com.au) Posted: March 27, 2009 David Cox resigned today after six years in charge of the airline's team of 6000 maintenance staff. He was the front man Qantas directors backed in a drawn-out industrial dispute last year with the airline's licensed engineers. During that period the airline's reputation for safety was damaged because of a series of maintenance problems. Major Leak: Qantas in talks with Malaysia Engineering to outsource A380 maintenance From: Flight Global News (More at: www.flightglobal.com) Posted March 26, 2009 Malaysia Airlines Engineering and Maintenance (MAS EM) senior general manager Roslan Ismail said in an interview that he is hoping Qantas may have heavy maintenance checks on Airbus A380s as well as Airbus A330s and some of its Boeing 747s done in Malaysia rather than Australia. He says "They [Qantas' maintenance and engineering bosses] said give them a few months to sort things out," he says. "They have a new CEO at Qantas and they have this union problem”. Qantas has already come to loggerheads in the past with unions over efforts to get work done in Malaysia. Qantas A380 “unservicable” - London passengers delayed 12 hours From: UPI News (more at: www.upi.com) Posted March 5, 2009 Passengers on a Qantas flight from London to Melburne waited 12 hours for a fuel leak to be repaired, then had to switch planes anyway. Qantas was forced to declare the Airbus A380 "unserviceable" Monday night because the fuel line could not be repaired. The passengers were transferred to a Boeing 747. It was the second incident involving the A380 for Qantas in five weeks, with another plane grounded Jan. 19 in Los Angeles. A Qantas spokeswoman said "We are working very closely with Airbus, but we remain committed to the A380, as the cornerstone of our new generation. We apologize to our customers." The Civil Aviation Safety Authority orders Qantas to stop using illegal engineers From: CASA (more at: http://casa.gov.au/rules/miscinst/2009/CASA82.pdf) Posted Feb, 17 2009 The Director of the Australian Civil Aviation Authority, Bruce Byron, has directed Qantas in writing to stop the continued use of unqualified and fake maintenance personnel. The regulation is specific to Qantas and is in response to several incidents where maintenance workers have gone to jail for fake certifications and performed work they are not qualified to conduct. The directive is available at CASA Order for Qantas maintenance Qantas A330 Engine damaged when towed with wrong equipment From: CopperMine (more at: coppermine.luchtzak.be) Posted Jan. 24, 2009 The engine of a Qantas A330 was severely damaged when it was towed with the wrong equipment. The plane should have been towed with the dedicated Airbus provided machinery, but was instead towed with a towbar belonging to Boeing 767 planes. The result was damages for several hundred thousand dollars. Qantas outsource A380 Maintenance despite many problems From: Aviation Week and Aviation Record (more at: www.aviationweek.com and www.aviationrecord.com) Posted: Jan 17, 2008 Qantas signed a 10-year agreement with Spairliners, for Airbus A380 component support. The deal includes the repair and replacement of about 750 components in Spairliner's warehouse and covers all 20 A380s Qantas has ordered. Qantas took delivery of its first A380 in September 2008. Qantas seems to have switched tactics for its Airbus A380 component support by signing an agreement with Spairliners. Meanwhile, Hundreds of Qantas aircraft engineers have endorsed a new agreement to keep some jobs onshore. Almost 650 workers in Melbourne and Sydney on Friday voted in a secret ballot in favour of a new four-year enterprise bargaining agreement to safeguard some jobs. Hong-Kong maintenance forgot Oil - Engine shuts-off with 168 passengers From: Sunday Times (more at: www.news.com.au/perthnow) Posted: Dec. 17, 2008 A Qantas jet serviced days ago in Hong Kong had to turn back to Perth yesterday after the crew was forced to turn off one of its two engines. Fairfax newspapers say the Airbus A330 with 168 passengers en route to Singapore returned to Perth when an engine oil warning light flashed in the cockpit. Aviation sources told Fairfax the engine starter motor sheared off because no oil had been put into the motor after its overhaul. David Cox, the executive general manager of Qantas Engineering, said: "Initial inspections by engineers indicate that the fault with the engine starter motor could have led to the engine oil problem". He said the investigation into the issue would require "detailed analysis" in conjunction with the starter motor and engine manufacturers in the US. Mr Cox said the Qantas A330 fleet was serviced overseas. This aircraft returned earlier in the week from a four-day 'C' check carried out in Hong Kong. It returned to Perth on one engine and a replacement plane finally took off with the passengers four hours and 50 minutes late. A Civil Aviation Safety Authority spokesman, Peter Gibson, confirmed preliminary reports that the malfunction had originated in the starter motor and that the oil supply was being looked at. "CASA has been kept fully informed on the incident by Qantas and will be closely monitoring Qantas's investigation of the event," Mr Gibson said. A survey of Qantas maintenance staff this year found concern about safety standards in part because of offshore maintenance. Sydney Airport: 51 Faulty Qantas jets breach curfew last 12 months From: Sydney Morning Herald (more at: www.smh.com.au) Posted: Nov. 24, 2008 Faulty Qantas and Jetstar planes and equipment have been responsible for almost half of all curfew breaches at Sydney Airport over the past 12 months. Records from the Ministry of Transport list defects that caused significant delays to passengers and inflicted aircraft noise on residents after 11pm. Some of the reasons for the flights being delayed include water leaks on vital electronic equipment, faulty reverse thrust, fuel leaks, a cracked cabin window and faulty brake hoses in landing gear. Weather- related delays accounted for 13 breaches; passengers missing flights or causing security concerns were responsible for six breaches. Most breaches, however, relate to land-based technology and defective aircraft, particularly those of Qantas and Jetstar. On March 25, Qantas's "entire operations were operating from just two landlines and two mobile phones" after lightning strikes caused a communications failure. As a result Qantas was unable to arrange accommodation for 72 stranded passengers and was granted permission to fly after curfew. Another breach occurred on Boxing Day last year when a Qantas plane broke down at Perth Airport and could not be towed to a parking bay for maintenance because all bays were being used by other Qantas planes that had broken down. Records show Qantas flight 566 was "kept standing on the taxiway until a bay could be cleared", which took two hours and meant it could not land in Sydney before the 11pm curfew. Qantas Jets Radar fails - have to follow another NZ jet across the Pacific From: The Associated Press (More at : www.msnbc.com) Posted Nov. 5, 2008 A Qantas airliner that discovered its weather radar was faulty tailed an Air New Zealand jet across the Pacific on a Wednesday flight from Los Angeles to Sydney, an official said. The Air New Zealand flight crew provided information about the weather ahead to the Qantas Boeing 747-400 jumbo jet carrying 284 passengers as the two aircraft made the 12-hour journey to Auckland in New Zealand, a Qantas spokeswoman said on condition of anonymity, citing company policy. The Qantas flight later continued on to Sydney, its scheduled destination.The fault is the latest in a series of high-profile malfunctions and near-misses for Australia's flagship carrier in recent months that have drawn attention to its safety standards. Qantas Outsources of 50% of airplane Maintenance From: The Sunday Mail (Australia) Posted April 23, 2008 Despite recent maintenance concerns, Qantas announced it is selling a 50 per cent stake in Melbourne-based jet engine maintenance subsidiary Jet Turbine Services. The deal includes a 10-year contract with LHT to provide maintenance services for 124 Qantas CF6 engines used on Boeing 767-300, 747-400 and Airbus A330 aircraft as well as 66 CFM56-7 engines powering the airline's 737-800s. Qantas announced in December that it had signed an agreement to establish a Malaysia-based engineering joint venture it hoped to build into a $US15 billion-a-year business by 2016. The announcement comes as Qantas engineers are due to take a ballot on renewed industrial action, including possible 48-hour strikes, after an enterprise bargaining agreement reached with the company fell apart. The Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association pulled out of the deal amid accusations Qantas had changed some of the details. Engineers: Qantas is not investing in Adequate maintenance From: The Daily Telegraph (news.com.au) Posted April 15, 2008 A lack of proper training and an inadequate number of Qantas engineers in Australia is going to lead to more problems and incidents, according to the Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association (ALAEA)."Qantas is no longer investing in their engineering division as they once did and this is going to lead to problems," ALAEA Federal Secretary Steve Purvinas said. The airline has been involved in several incidents, including an abandoned take-off at Los Angeles Airport following a "cockpit alert", since it began its offshore maintenance program in 2006. The discovery of crudely stapled wires on a Qantas jumbo jet in July 2007 at its Singapore Airlines Engineering Company sparked calls by the airline's engineers for an end to its offshore maintenance program. "Nowadays, investment in training seems to be based on sending engineers up to the bush to throw teddy bears to one another to see who can catch them." Qantas kills "DumbJet" maintenance system From: The Australian, Feb. 21, 2008 (www.australianit.news.com.au) Qantas will dump Jetsmart, the $40 million engineering and maintenance platform labelled "Dumbjet" by engineering staff. Jetsmart will be replaced by a new system, codenamed Project Marlin. Controversy has surrounded Jetsmart since its inception and Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association members threatened to go on strike over the system in February 2005 because it required engineers to carry out additional data entry and accounting work. But Project Marlin has had no input from Qantas engineers. Disastrous cracks found in at least 6 Qantas 747 jets From: The Australian (www.news.com.au) QANTAS has found more problems with cracked drip trays in its jumbojet fleet, suggesting the potentially disastrous problem is more widespread than first thought. The airline confirmed the find but refused to go into detail. "There were some instances of cracks," a Qantas spokeswoman said. "They were immediately repaired and the aircraft have been cleared." The Australian understands cracks or other defects were found in as many as six 747 aircraft. A cracked drip tray under the first-class galley was blamed this week for a Boeing 747-400 on approach to Bangkok being robbed of its main electrical power. The latest development comes as Qantas licensed engineers postponed threatened industrial action over a pay dispute until the beginning of next month, averting potential chaos for thousands of holiday travellers. Qantas started to check its others planes following the leak, which forced the plane to land on battery back-up after water shorted a generator control unit. The water is understood to have come from a blocked drain and should have been caught by the drip tray, but instead leaked through on to the control unit. The jet landed safely because it was only 15 minutes from the airport, but pilots and other aviation sources warned that the incident could have been disastrous if it had happened further out to sea. Battery back-up is guaranteed to last 30 minutes, and pilots would lose essential instruments once the batteries were drained. Pilots say the issue is more complicated because the likelihood of this kind of failure is considered so remote that procedures to deal with it are no longer available on 747-400s. Qantas would not say how cracks were found or in how many other planes, but it is understood there could have been as many as six. Asked about the new finds last night, Civil Aviation Safety Authority spokesman Peter Gibson said the regulator would be watching investigations closely and was waiting for a response from manufacturer Boeing. "In the first instance (Qantas) did the right thing in inspecting the fleet and that's what we'd expect of a good operator," Mr Gibson said. "They've identified the problems and rectified them and in the immediate sense that's what what we want to see. "The next step, of course, is up to Boeing to consider." The US aerospace giant is conducting an urgent investigation into the failure and said yesterday it would not alert other operators until that was finished. Spokesman Ken Morton said Boeing did not understand what had happened, nor why. News of the additional cracks came as Qantas passengers contacted The Australian to tell of electrical failures on other flights. One passenger said QF10 from London to Melbourne on Saturday came to a complete stop before reaching the runway in Singapore with no power, lights or engines. Police search for Senior Qantas Engineer – False credentials From: The Age (theage.com.au) Posted Aug. 2007 A man worked on Qantas planes for 12 months while posing as a senior engineer before management became suspicious about his credentials, a Qantas official says. The engineer joined the company in 2002 and worked at a level appropriate to his qualifications, but he won a promotion to a more senior position last year on the basis of forged certificates. It was not until July this year that his superiors became suspicious.The man, now wanted by Australian Federal Police (AFP), was posing as a licensed aircraft maintenance engineer, but when Qantas checked his records it found he had not passed critical exams needed to work in that role Dangerous Mistakes at Qantas offshore maintenance centers from: Sydney Morning Herald (www.smh.com.au) Federal Transport Minister Mark Vaile has refused to condemn Qantas for a series of potentially dangerous mistakes made at one of the airline's offshore maintenance centres. Qantas has admitted to a series of incidents during maintenance at its Singapore base."We've never said that suppliers never have a problem and that they're perfect, that would be ridiculous," executive general manager Qantas engineering David Cox told ABC Radio. Details of a safety audit conducted by Qantas were leaked to media outlets. Qantas engineers found numerous flight control cables that required replacing after Singapore Airlines Engineering Company (SIAEC) staff performed inspections without finding defects. Screws had been left scattered on a wing and the plane had been damaged when a large spare part had been dropped from an overhead crane. But Mr Vaile refused to condemn the safety breaches. Instead, he tied safety to the proposed takeover of Qantas by multinational private equity consortium Airline Partners Australia (APA). A deed of undertaking signed by APA and the government forces the flying kangaroo's proposed suitor to make guarantees on safety. "It's important that I highlight again these (safety) aspects of the agreement," Mr Vaile told reporters. "We are comfortable with the commitments that have been made publicly." The deed guarantees "the Qantas Group's historical commitment to the safety of its operations will remain unchanged". Mr Cox said the problems had been fixed. "What we've said is, if there are issues, we'll go in, we'll deal with them and we won't give up until they're dealt with and I think some of the quotes in there (the audit) show very clearly the resolve with which we attacked that problem." The national aircraft engineers union called for a freeze on all offshore maintenance. "This (audit) is a further indication that Qantas is not giving the public the full story on the quality of maintenance work being carried out overseas," Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association spokesman Steve Purvinas said. Qantas defend safety record -audit report Finds Many Problems From: The WorldToday - P. Ryan (www.abc.net.au) ELEANOR HALL: Qantas has today defended its safety record in response to an audit, which raised serious questions about the airline's offshore maintenance operations. The audit warned that maintenance quality issues had not been addressed by a Singapore contractor. It also raised doubts about whether Qantas was meeting its own safety standards and those of the civil aviation regulator. But Qantas says the problems in Singapore have been resolved. PETER RYAN: The confidential audit was conducted in August last year, and the target was Qantas's Singapore maintenance contractor, the Singapore Airlines Engineering Company. Qantas engineers spotted 14 problems, among them flight control cables in need of replacement, screws scattered across a wing, a plane damaged after a large spare part was dropped on it from a crane, and damaged floor panels bogged up with filler. According to the audit, the airline's unblemished safety reputation was potentially at risk. REPORT EXCERPT (read by actor): This audit has served to clearly demonstrate that previously highlighted quality issues have not been effectively addressed. The general quality trend appears to be heading in a negative direction, with numerous quality deficiencies considered to be of a serious nature. PETER RYAN: The audit also warned Qantas could no longer have confidence in its own standards, and those of the civil aviation regulator CASA, until the Singapore contractor was hauled into line. REPORT EXCERPT (read by actor): Qantas management must consider whether the risks of continued usage of this supplier are acceptable to Qantas, and with close scrutiny, if quality improvement will be demonstrated, with future checks. PETER RYAN: Seven months on, Qantas says the safety concerns were resolved without delay, and that the Singapore contractor remains on the payroll. DAVID COX: That document was produced for the very purpose of making sure that we had a clear trail of where we were with that supplier, and from that, we then launched further action with the supplier to address those issues. PETER RYAN: David Cox, Executive General Manager of Qantas Engineering, was on the phone to Singapore as soon as the audit hit his desk. DAVID COX: What we did was we went back in, and we worked with the supplier until they were addressed, and we didn't ah, cease action until we were comfortable. We worked continually with them, and in fact we do the same with all of our suppliers, and we've said that continually. We, we've never said that suppliers never have a problem and that they're perfect, no, that would be ridiculous. What we've said is that, if there are issues, we'll go in, we'll deal with them, and we won't give up until, until they're dealt with. And I think some of the quotes in there show very clearly the resolve with which we attacked that problem. PETER RYAN: So the trend in maintenance in Singapore is no longer heading in a generally negative direction. DAVID COX: No, we've addressed those issues, and we had some senior visits very recently to review the state of play with them. And we came away happy. PETER RYAN: The report itself does highlight some maintenance issues. It says flight control cables requiring replacement, screws left scattered on the wing. What was your reaction when you, when you read that audit? DAVID COX: Oh, exactly what it says in the report. We've got to deal with these. And that's what we did. We went up and sat down with them and said this is not acceptable, if you're going to supply to Qantas here's what you've got to do, and from the very senior levels in their business they reacted very positively, as you would expect, and addressed the issue. PETER RYAN: But with the $11 billion sale of Qantas still a possibility, airline unions and air pilots are refusing to buy the Qantas line on safety. PETER SOMERVILLE: Of course they would say that now, but it's only when we get a leaked report that, that we actually hear about these things. PETER RYAN: Peter Somerville is General Manager of the Australian and International Pilots Association. He says budget cuts and poor quality controls could be part of a new look Qantas. PETER SOMERVILLE: What we're concerned about is circumstances where increased commercial pressures, loading Qantas up with a truckload of debt, can cause the new owners to look at issues around shaving costs, and clearly outsourcing maintenance is one of those matters that they will be looking at. PETER RYAN: But David Cox says the, until now, confidential report is old news, and it's being used by unions to derail plans for change within Qantas. DAVID COX: We are resolved to address the issues. What we don't like is people using them for industrial ends, and releasing them months after the even and trying to pretend that there's an issue where there isn't one, and trying to deflect attention away from the need for change in Australia. PETER RYAN: Wouldn't you accept that, if you did find these problems in Singapore, that it does highlight some of the risks of having maintenance carried out off-shore. DAVID COX: No, I think what it shows is that every, every facility in the world, and Australian facilities included, from time to time have quality issues. Pretending that one country's perfect and the other country's not, that's fantasy, and you know, it's the sort of stuff that ah, people are trying to peddle to, as I said, deflect industrial action. The facts are every facility, every MRO in the world, is not perfect. What you've gotta have is a robust system to catch issues when they arise and deal with them, and we've got that. Qantas safety questioned - FAA bans Sydney maintenance plant From: The ABC-TV 7:30 Report (www.abc.net.au) KERRY O'BRIEN: The Civil Aviation Safety Authority has ordered Qantas to take corrective action on a number of matters at a Sydney maintenance plant after the US air safety regulator had placed a ban on the plant. News of the ban, imposed by the Federal Aviation Administration, prompted CASA to conduct an early audit of the plant, resulting in the demand to change aspects of the airlines' operation. CASA has also launched two further audits of Qantas's maintenance operations. The airline admits to being embarrassed by the US action against its plant but insists it is not linked to a spate of recent accidents and incidents. Quentin Dempster reports. DAVID FORSYTH, AIRCRAFT OPERATIONS, QANTAS: Certainly, embarrassing and we've always strived hard to make sure we don't lose it when they do their annual audit. In this case, we've lost it for one small part of our workshops. MICK TOLLER, CIVIL AVIATION SAFETY AUTHORITY: I think it's a timely warning and I think it's one that certainly on the operational side, they will heed. QUENTIN DEMPSTER: In the latest blow to Qantas's once-proud reputation, the United States regulator, the Federal Aviation Administration, has suspended the maintenance of American planes at Qantas's seal and bearing plant in Sydney. DAVID FORSYTH: Some of these are to with the size of the workshop, and we need to pay more attention to some detail of how we manage and housekeep in the workshop.Some of them are simply to do with getting the proper authorisations, getting the paperwork right. In aviation, it's important to get the paperwork right and we'll be able to fix those very quickly. QUENTIN DEMPSTER: The FAA's suspension of certification for your Sydney seal and bearing plant is unprecedented isn't it? DAVID FORSYTH: No, it's not, Quentin. It's not usual for the FAA to withdraw its certification of certain facilities.We've had similar sorts of occurrences at Qantas in the past over some years. Other airlines have also had their authorisations withdrawn by the FAA. QUENTIN DEMPSTER: Qantas expects to regain FAA certification within two months but as a result of the FAA's action, the Australian regulator, the Civil Aviation Safety Authority, seems to have been embarrassed as well. It was unaware of the FAA's investigation. MICK TOLLER: That's why as soon as we heard about this audit from Qantas, we started our own audit, and our team were in last week looking at the same bearing and seal shop. QUENTIN DEMPSTER: CASA has now written to Qantas raising issues about adequate documentation. A reply is required by Friday. MICK TOLLER: Some of them go down into the control systems behind this that allowed this to happen n the first place, we're looking at issues to do with how they keep their technical publications up to date.We're looking at issues on how they have acceptable procedures that may differ from the manufacturer's procedures and how they approve those procedures. QUENTIN DEMPSTER: The FAA won't comment on what is described as a routine audit of a foreign repair station. But the FAA's maintenance ban highlights the differing approaches between the American and Australian regulators. In scrutinising the maintenance of US carriers abroad, the FAA doesn't mess around. Its action in Australia raises the question, why hasn't CASA followed suit? MICK TOLLER: We only will stop an action if there is an immediate threat to aviation safety. Now, these are not issues that are creating, in my view at any rate, an immediate threat to safety. QUENTIN DEMPSTER: But Qantas's safety record is now squarely in the spotlight. PASSENGER, SEPTEMBER 24, 1999: I certainly heard and I'm sure many others heard the nose wheel snap and the front of the aircraft go down. NEWSREADER, 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. NEWSREADER, APRIL 24, 2000: Two days ago, they were stranded on the tarmac in Rome after the undercarriage of their Qantas jet collapsed beneath them. NEWSREADER, 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. QUENTIN DEMPSTER: On top of all the recent incidents, there's no doubt the suspension of FAA certification of a section of this maintenance plant in Sydney is a blow to Qantas. And it imposes considerable pressure on the regulator, the Civil Aviation Safety Authority, to intensify its scrutiny of Qantas in spite of Qantas's privately expressed concerns about media sensationalism. QUENTIN DEMPSTER: Please release to us the FAA's report into the Sydney seal and bearing plant. DAVID FORSYTH: It's not our policy to release documents from other agencies, certainly not something which is an audit. QUENTIN DEMPSTER: Why not? DAVID FORSYTH: That's something between the audit agency and ourselves. a bit like a medical health check. I'm sure you wouldn't want your latest medical health check released out there to the public. QUENTIN DEMPSTER: I understand you're in a rivalry situation with other airlines but if it's a question of establishing public confidence in Qantas after all these incidents, particularly the FAA suspension of certification, why not waive confidentiality? DAVID FORSYTH: Certainly, in the United States, they're much more open about releasing this sort of information than we are in Australia.If Australia was to make a decision to release this sort of information for all airlines operating in Australia, I would have no problem with that. QUENTIN DEMPSTER: Late today, CASA told the 7:30 Report it has now ordered Qantas to take corrective action on six matters covering workshop maintenance operation. CASA also announced two further audits into Qantas's quality assurance system and technical publications. But we won't get to see the audit results, they're commercial in confidence.The travelling public, it seems, will have to fly on trust. |
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| Not affilliated with Qantas airlines - in fact, they hate us |
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