Separate incidents involving Qantas & Air Mauritius

Anthony1

Qantas flight plunges 20,000 ft:

http://www.breakingnews.ie/world/mhqlkfauojcw/

Air Mauritius flight catches fire on runway:

http://www.breakingnews.ie/world/mhqlkfaueysn/

Fozzie Bear

Bloody hell!

Look at the size of that hole:eek:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7524733.stm

Fratton Fred

when it says the p[lane plunged 20,000 ft, I presume that the pilot descended 20,000 feet, which I guess would be a lot less worryting than if it "plunged". I suppose the story is better with the word plunged though.

can't say i blame the passengers for vomiting though, I may have had another sort of involuntary bodily function:eek:

highlydebased

"plunge" hmm.

There was a depressurisation not just some random hole appearing. In the event of a depressurisation it is priority of the flight crew to get the aircraft to under 10,000 feet so the use of oxygen would not be required. The rate of descent is much greater than any pax would be used to, hence the sensation of "plummeting"

Davidth88

Just seen this on the Beeb ( the Quantas one )

Wow !

FlutterinBantam

I saw it on the Beeb too, very scary

robinph

Quantas get away without ever having crashed a plane again.

Nobody looked all that bothered on the inflight video they have on the beeb site though.

APM

gonna be really pedantic and add that its Qantas not quantas

nowuckenfurries

"Passengers were being put up in hotels while the aircraft was being repaired"

http://www.breakingnews.ie/world/mhqlkfauojcw/

In all fairness I would have a severe fear of re-boarding that aircracft again....:eek:

robinph

APM wrote: »

gonna be really pedantic and add that its Qantas not quantas

I knew something looked wrong there.

Davidth88

I knew something looked wrong there

.

Sorry my mistake , when you type a Q it's almost automatic to type in Qu

Ill say QF next time

Run_to_da_hills

Quanta’s is now in grave danger of loosing their acclaimed reputation as the "safest airline on earth" since they started to farm out their maintenance contracts to cheap labour sources outside of Australia. This incident is only the start of it. I hope Aer lingus dose not go down this route.

Foggy43

There are some media reports of oxygen bottles being involved. There are Pax Oxygen bottles immediately aft of the Cargo door. Part of the drop down system. I do not think they go back as far as the wing root.

It has been over 4 years since I worked on the oxygen system on the B747-400.

Here is a guide as to their locations http://www.boeing.com/commercial/airports/arff/arff747.pdf

Fabio

Really? I'd heard of that before alright. Apparently wasn't it cheap maintainence cost cutting that caused the engine failure on an Airbus A330 belonging to Air Transit half way over the Atlantic and it had to divert to the Canaries or something...it featured on Air Crash Investigation on National Geographic despite it not crashing at all at all!!!

Fabio

An update on this one about the 747.

Apparently the future of the airliner is under threat. I havent read the story and it's prob a load of hyperbolic bull but here's the link....

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,24084339-2,00.html

Mr Benevolent

Apparently the future of the airliner is under threat.

It's not under threat. If CASA or the FAA find that the depressurisation was a fatigue or corrosion issue they will mandate that all 747-400s be given checks to prevent this incident reoccuring. These checks are called Airworthiness Directives and Service Bulletins. The 744 will continue to fly safely for another 10-20 years.

they started to farm out their maintenance contracts to cheap labour sources outside of Australia. This incident is only the start of it.

This 744 was maintained in a Quantas maintenance facility (Avalon). "Cheap" is not a word that can be used in relation to aviation. There are a number of probable causes for this incident, and most of them involve maint, but don't start blaming "cheap foreign labour" because Quantas maint screwed up. There are Australian idiots as well, you know.

Run_to_da_hills

Would the passengers and crew of this flight be liable for any damages for this harrowing experience? If I was on that flight I would certainly be looking for a few bob having had the life scared out of me.

BrianD

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

Would the passengers and crew of this flight be liable for any damages for this harrowing experience? If I was on that flight I would certainly be looking for a few bob having had the life scared out of me.

Well if they landed you safely why would you claim? A few bob ain;t going to reverse the experience. Think of the positives - you'd be a local hero, the talk of the town ... you can tell the girls (or boys) of how you cheated death at 39,000 ft!

thomasj

sky and the beeb are reporting that a second qantas jet had to make an emergency landing at melbourne airport today after an incident involving one of the doors opening during flight

Sort of reminds me of the air crash investigation programme "behind closed doors"

Our man in Havana

BrianD wrote: »

Well if they landed you safely why would you claim? A few bob ain;t going to reverse the experience. Think of the positives - you'd be a local hero, the talk of the town ... you can tell the girls (or boys) of how you cheated death at 39,000 ft!

Qantas will have to payout a fair bit. No doubt people will claim for having to suffer a near death experience.

Biro

Bond-007 wrote: »

Qantas will have to payout a fair bit. No doubt people will claim for having to suffer a near death experience.

I'd be happy with a few vouchers for first class seats on Qantas flights!
It'd be like an indirect cost to the airline, and it'd make me happy!

Our man in Havana

I would be happy with a free 1st class return.

pclancy

Its hardly a near death experience. The plane suffered a decompression, pilots brought it down to breathable air altitude through a CONTROLLED DESCENT not "plunged from the skies" like the media seem to feel and its something they're practised a hundred times over. I understand joe soap being worried by the situation but by all accounts it was well handled by the cabin crew and cockpit announcements and by and large everyone was very calm. Until they got off and seen the gaping hole

My bets on missing the OXY tanks

Latchy

The oxy tank exploding may be the get out clause to save the airline, but proving it might be difficult .

Run_to_da_hills

Biro wrote: »

I'd be happy with a few vouchers for first class seats on Qantas flights!
It'd be like an indirect cost to the airline, and it'd make me happy!

First class up stairs at that, you would be further away from the hole if it ever happens again. :eek:

Tenger

pclancy wrote: »

Its hardly a near death experience. The plane suffered a decompression, pilots brought it down to breathable air altitude through a CONTROLLED DESCENT not "plunged from the skies" like the media seem to feel and its something they're practised a hundred times over.

Agree here. The pax paid for trannsport from A to B. They are still getting there quite delayed and via C. It appears to have been handled well and no lives were lost.

people forget that aviation is not a normal thing. i have been on an emergency descent and severall controlled descents inflight in my career. All were shocking at the time,esp as I had to swallow my own unease to calm others,but I don't have nightmares over them..........maybe in 10 yeats it will all come back to haunt me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1