alberttky 0 Report post Posted January 26, 2011 A Qantas Boeing 747 suffering mid-air mechanical trouble was forced to land in Bangkok, a Thai official said Wednesday, in the latest of a string of problems for the Australian airline. The Sydney-bound flight developed difficulties on Tuesday evening soon after taking off from the Thai capital and returned just after 7:00 pm (1200 GMT), said Somchai Thean-Anant of Thailand's air traffic control. Reporting from Sydney, the Australian Associated Press said the plane was carrying 352 passengers, and quoted a Qantas spokesman as denying that the airline was suffering from systemic maintenance problems. Also on Tuesday, a Qantas Boeing 737-400 carrying 99 passengers lost cabin pressure mid-flight en route from Adelaide to Melbourne, prompting the pilot to dive 8,000 metres (26,000 feet) and panicking passengers. Qantas has endured a dramatic few months. In November it temporarily suspended flights of its Airbus A380 superjumbos after an engine on one exploded after taking off from Singapore, damaging the plane. Last week a Qantas flight bound for New York made an unscheduled stop in Fiji after the Boeing 747 developed a problem with a fuel valve supplying one of its engines. http://news.xin.msn.com/en/regional/article.aspx?cp-documentid=4602933 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
S M Tang 0 Report post Posted January 26, 2011 It just had to be Qantas again! Sometimes I wonder if it's really Qantas' fault or the media only highlights incidences that Qantas is involved in. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Johan Z 0 Report post Posted January 27, 2011 Because most of the aircraft involved in incidents/accidents are 747/A380, so more highlight was given by the media. By the way, we don't hear any major mechanical trouble by other Asia Pacific airlines, which make me wonder if it's really a trouble in maintenance department. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mohd Suhaimi Fariz 2 Report post Posted January 27, 2011 This is getting ridiculous! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Paul Saccani 0 Report post Posted January 27, 2011 It just had to be Qantas again! Sometimes I wonder if it's really Qantas' fault or the media only highlights incidences that Qantas is involved in. It is indeed the latter. Just about every diversion due to weather or even routine go arounds gets reported as a new "Qantas Scare". I suppose it has something to do with the mythology that no one has ever died due to a Qantas aeroplane crash. Ultimately, such excess scrutiny, though unfair, may help the airline maintain its safety standards.... The airline has responded well to near hits in the safety area. For instance, the BKK sextuple generator failure, where little guaranteed reserve was left on the emergency inverter bus, which would have caused primary flight instruments to be lost. In that case, they installed new instrumentation with built in battery back up, which give a guaranteed extra twenty minutes of instrumentation after the emergency bus was lost. The doom and gloom of the media must make it easier to justify expenses such as this to the board, so it isn't all bad! Cheers! Paul Saccani Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Naim 6 Report post Posted January 27, 2011 Can check at http://avherald.com/ to see if Qantas has always been singled out. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mohd Suhaimi Fariz 2 Report post Posted January 27, 2011 Ultimately, such excess scrutiny, though unfair, may help the airline maintain its safety standards.... But before that they have to face reduced number of bookings as the uninformed public avoided the airline like the plague. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ignatius 4 Report post Posted January 27, 2011 They are after all the world most experience airline.. Aussie Aussie Aussie.. Oii Oi Oii! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Paul Saccani 0 Report post Posted January 27, 2011 Because most of the aircraft involved in incidents/accidents are 747/A380, so more highlight was given by the media. That is not the case, and even BAE 146 issues with National Jet Systems operated aircraft get reported as Qantas issues. By the way, we don't hear any major mechanical trouble by other Asia Pacific airlines, which make me wonder if it's really a trouble in maintenance department. Not being reported by the media is not the same thing as not happening. Cheers! Paul Saccani Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Paul Saccani 0 Report post Posted January 27, 2011 They are after all the world most experience airline.. Aussie Aussie Aussie.. Oii Oi Oii! G'day Ignatius, I wouldn't say that at all, patriotism aside. Qantas is a small operator on the world stage. The big US airlines would probably match the total number of Qantas flight hours in the history of the company in only a few weeks. Due to the relatively smaller number of hours and passenger kilometres, a single fatality accident would likely put the airline around the middle of the deaths/km or hour metric. It is much like how Concorde went from being the best in safety to the worst with one accident. Stay humble and the current good fortune in avoiding deaths for over fifty years may continue, but complacency could cause a departure in the other direction. Would you be interested in a visit to our 737 at YPJT? Cheers, Paul Saccani Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BC Tam 2 Report post Posted January 27, 2011 Which again fortifies belief of there being lies, damned lies and statistics Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
