oops! I (Qantas) did it again!!

[yeadrian 0]

Apart from the continuous exposure and scrutiny from the media from incident to another, another panel issue....

with so much of free press.... they can save from advertising costs.....

although the blame on others has seem to quiet down... (hope i don't speak too soon!)

 

Panel falls off Qantas plane during flight / August 15, 2008 - 2:39PM

 

Qantas today confirmed a panel had fallen off a jumbo jet mid-flight, but federal Transport Minister Anthony Albanese has urged Australians not to "talk down" the national carrier.

The Boeing 747 was en route to Singapore from Melbourne when the small engine access panel became detached, a Qantas spokesman said.

The problem was discovered during routine checks on the plane after it arrived at Singapore's Changi Airport early this morning.

"It had absolutely no flight safety implications," the spokeswoman said.

The access panel, which was "non-structural", was replaced and the flight continued to London after a delay of just under six hours.

The incident was the latest in a series of aircraft problems for Qantas.

But Mr Albanese called for some perspective on the airline's record.

"Australia has one of the safest aviation systems in the world," he told reporters in Sydney.

"I think that, quite clearly, Qantas themselves regret any disruption that occurs, but it is important to put this in perspective.

"Safety has to be paramount.

"It is in Australia's national interest for Qantas not to be talked down."

This morning, a Qantas flight from Brisbane to Melbourne was also delayed by more than half an hour because of a technical problem.

On Wednesday night, a Qantas Boeing 767 experienced a hydraulic failure which affected the plane's steering as it landed at Sydney airport.

The plane left a trail of hydraulic fluid as it touched down on its way from Melbourne, forcing the closure of the runway for 40 minutes while the spill was mopped up.

Last month an explosion ripped a hole in the fuselage of a Qantas jet en route from Hong Kong to Melbourne, forcing an emergency landing at Manila.

 

AAP

 

This story was found at: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2008/08/15/1218307183980.html

 

 

[Walter Sim 1]

I think this news will not make into the papers if it wasn't for the recent QANTAS hype....

[yeadrian 0]

CX had the same incident some time back, it was all over TVB and HK Dailies.....

QF has been experiencing a string of bad luck, it will not sound so bad and so "heated" if not for the hole in 744...

[Victor A. 2]

was just wondering, all the incidents suffered by Qantas recently occurs only on BOEING a/c (B737, B767, B747), didn't see any problem with their AIRBUS a/c (correct me if I'm wrong)....

[BC Tam 2]

Whilst it's good in a way the Aussie press highlights all these incidents (hopefully keeping the maintenance chaps on their toes) perhaps some of the more trivial incidents too may get getting unnecessary exposure. How long before

"STEWARDESS SPILLS JUICE ON QF CARPET INFLIGHT - HEROIC SAFE LANDING BY PILOTS"

hits the front page ?

[Karlm 0]

was just wondering, all the incidents suffered by Qantas recently occurs only on BOEING a/c (B737, B767, B747), didn't see any problem with their AIRBUS a/c (correct me if I'm wrong)....

 

 

Oh dont worry, the A330's had a lot of problems when they 1st entered the fleet, but was not even mentioned in the media!

[Peter Smith 1]

This is a perfect example of media crap.

 

The headline says, "panel falls off" then the article goes to describe it just detaching. It was still physically on the engine!

 

When I turned on the TV duing breakfast yesterday, the first story was this...and I quote "A Qantas flight from Brisbane to Melbourne was delayed by half an hour this morning"...god help us!

[Nik H. 3]

Whilst it's good in a way the Aussie press highlights all these incidents (hopefully keeping the maintenance chaps on their toes) perhaps some of the more trivial incidents too may get getting unnecessary exposure. How long before

"STEWARDESS SPILLS JUICE ON QF CARPET INFLIGHT - HEROIC SAFE LANDING BY PILOTS"

hits the front page ?

 

Hilarious BC.......

 

But seriously, this over the top coverage of trivial incidents which are also happening to other airlines on a daily basis make me sympathetic of the QF personel.

 

 

[Keith T 2]

Don't know whether to laugh or cry at this one:

 

http://www.smh.com.au/news/travel/toilet-s...8911468165.html

 

Unscheduled toilet stop adds to Qantas woes

 

 

Annabel Crabb

August 18, 2008

 

 

THE run of bad luck afflicting Qantas took a graphic turn last night when a fully loaded 767 flying from Sydney to Perth was forced to stage an unplanned landing in Adelaide so its toilets could be emptied.

 

Flight staff on QF571 told passengers that Sydney ground staff had forgotten to empty the toilets on the 737-300, which originated in Honolulu.

 

By the time the flight had been in the air for an hour, three of the toilets had ceased to function.

 

"They told us that under any reasonable calculation, the rest of them would go pretty quickly," one businessman told the Herald during the plane's cleaning stop in Adelaide.

 

"Four out of seven toilets were not flushing so for the comfort of our passengers we diverted to Adelaide," a Qantas spokeswoman said.

 

Passengers were "exasperated", the businessman said, but otherwise resigned to the delay.

 

"All this discussion of toilets triggered an urgent need to go in just about everyone," he said.

 

"We did ask for more red wine to be brought on board, but it was felt not to be a priority."

 

The unscheduled Qantas toilet stop comes only hours after the national carrier was forced to delay Sydney-bound QF2 from London for more than 15 hours after a problem with its rudder.

 

The flight had been scheduled to leave London's Heathrow airport at 7.15am (AEST) yesterday, but eventually took-off closer to 11pm, the spokeswoman confirmed.

 

Both incidents are only the latest in a string of problems that have beset the Qantas fleet since an explosion tore a hole in the side of an aircraft flying from Hong Kong to Melbourne on July 25.

 

with Dylan Welch

 

Lumping this in with QF30 really demonstrates a lack of perspective IMO...

Edited August 17, 2008 by Keith T

[Tim Lee 6]

There is that nagging feeling that these incidents and it coverage are:

 

1. Either deliberate acts perpetrated by their own engineers to discredit QF management and external partners. Rememebr MH has a spate of wire cutting.

 

2. Or purely coincidental and ceratin interested parties has capitalized it deliberately to achieve teh same result.

 

Or Both.

 

Ponder.

[Teoh Z Yao 0]

Unscheduled toilet stop adds to Qantas woes

 

 

 

THE run of bad luck afflicting Qantas took a graphic turn last night when a fully loaded 767 flying from Sydney to Perth was forced to stage an unplanned landing in Adelaide so its toilets could be emptied.

 

Flight staff on QF571 told passengers that Sydney ground staff had forgotten to empty the toilets on the 737-300, which originated in Honolulu.

[Yusoff 1]

Unscheduled toilet stop adds to Qantas woes

 

THE run of bad luck afflicting Qantas took a graphic turn last night when a fully loaded 767 flying from Sydney to Perth was forced to stage an unplanned landing in Adelaide so its toilets could be emptied.

 

Flight staff on QF571 told passengers that Sydney ground staff had forgotten to empty the toilets on the 737-300, which originated in Honolulu.

 

Was amazed too, a 733 could do HNL-SYD. (or 733 really can fly HNL-SYD?)

 

Just a typo. It was 767-300, here: ttp://avherald.com/h?article=40b4de78&opt=0

 

Qantas B763 near Adelaide on Aug 17th 2008, toilets force diversion

By Simon Hradecky, created Sunday, Aug 17th 2008 15:38Z, last updated Sunday, Aug 17th 2008 15:42Z

 

A Qantas Boeing 767-300, registration VH-OGC performing flight QF571 from Sydney,NS to Perth,WA (Australia), needed to divert to Adelaide,SA after four of seven toilets on board stopped flushing about one hour into the flight.

 

It turned out, that the toilets had not been emptied at Sydney airport after the previous flight QF4 from Honolulu,HI (USA) to Sydney.

[yeadrian 0]

gosh, this is interesting piece of news - flight diverted due to toilets not emptied...

sabotage... QF should not discount that it may be a factor...

[MIR 2]

Vibrating engine grounds Qantas plane

 

August 31, 2008

 

A QANTAS flight has landed without incident in the German city of Frankfurt after its crew shut down an engine because of a vibration.

Qantas Flight 31 from Singapore to London diverted to Frankfurt Airport for repairs to the engine, landing about 3.15pm (AEST) today, a Qantas spokeswoman confirmed.

 

The Boeing 747-400 aircraft diverted "due to the captain being alerted to a vibration in one of the engines," a Qantas spokeswoman said.

 

"As is standard procedure the engine was shut down," she said.

 

"There was no safety issue at any time and the aircraft continued to Frankfurt, where it landed without incident."

 

Qantas engineers are investigating the cause of the engine problem.

 

Passengers were diverted to other carriers, either flying direct to London or to other European destinations "with what we expect will be a minimum of delay", the spokeswoman said.

 

Frankfurt Airport duty manager Tino Ross told AAP the landing was "not an emergency".

 

"It was a technical landing," he said.

 

"There was a problem with engine four and the pilot decided to come into Frankfurt to repair the engine.

 

"There was no incident on landing."

 

The incident is the latest in a spate of mechanical problems affecting the Qantas fleet.

 

On July 25, a faulty oxygen bottle blew a hole in the fuselage of a Qantas Boeing 747-400 flying from Hong Kong to Melbourne.

 

The blast caused the aircraft, with 365 people on board, to depressurize and it rapidly descended several thousand feet before making an emergency landing in Manila.

 

On July 29, a Adelaide-Melbourne flight returned to Adelaide when a wheel bay door failed to close, while a hydraulic fluid leak forced a Boeing 767 to return to Sydney.

 

Hydraulics caused a flight to be delayed almost three hours in Sydney on August 4.

 

Three days later, a noisy air-conditioning fault forced the grounding of a jet that had recently returned from routine maintenance in Malaysia with 95 defects.

 

Then on August 12, Qantas announced it would temporarily pull six Boeing 737-400s from service after discovering an irregularity in maintenance paperwork.

 

On August 13, a Qantas Boeing 747-300 from Melbourne was grounded in New Zealand after an engine shut down on approach to Auckland.

 

On the same day, Qantas flight QF31 to London - the same flight affected by today's incident - was delayed because a crucial screw needed urgent maintenance, while a Boeing 767 jet had a hydraulic failure that affected the plane's steering as it landed at Sydney on a flight from Melbourne.

 

The plane left a trail of hydraulic fluid as it touched down, forcing the runway to close for 40 minutes as the spill was mopped up.

 

Two days later, on August 15, a technical problem delayed a Brisbane to Melbourne flight for more than 30 minutes, while a small body panel fell from a Qantas jumbo en route to Singapore from Melbourne.

 

On August 17, a rudder problem delayed the departure of a Sydney-bound plane at London's Heathrow Airport by more than 16 hours.

 

Three days later, two flights were cancelled between Perth and Sydney and Perth and Melbourne because of technical problems.

 

The Civil Aviation Safety Authority has established a team to examine issues including maintenance and safety systems at Qantas.

[Keith T 2]

Would this be a similar kind of situation to that BA 747 flying from LAX to LHR that shut down an engine not long after take off last year? Except that BA crew elected to continue flying normally...

Edited August 31, 2008 by Keith T

[Wilber Tan 0]

Qantas encounter so much incident in not more than 2months...

[tsentsan 0]

I'm sure every airline has so many problems, just that they arent the media's flavour of the month.

[Wilber Tan 0]

if not having so much prob in a short while, they wont be in media's flavourite list as well..hope they wont face anymore incident...even a very minor problem of them will be on the news now...kesian...