Another Qantas 'incident'

cyrusdvirus

Up to 50 people have suffered broken bones and other injuries when a Qantas plane carrying more than 300 passengers was involved in a “mid-air incident” and was forced to make an emergency landing in Western Australia.

The plane was en route from Singapore to Melbourne in southern Australia when it was forced to land at Learmonth airport in the town of Exmouth, 1,200km north of Perth in Western Australia at 1.30pm local time (4.30amBST).

A spokesman for Western Australia Police told Times Online that passengers were being treated by nurses at the scene and would then be transferred to a local hospital. Police are also at the scene.

He said he understands that nobody has received life-threatening injuries.

Qantas said that “a number of passengers and crew sustained injuries, including fractures and lacerations” on board QF72, which was due to land in Perth.

The airline said the problem was related to “a sudden change in altitude” but no details are yet available as to what caused the altitude change.

It is the latest in a string of incidents involving Qantas planes this year. In one incident, a plane travelling from London to Melbourne made an emergency landing in the Philippines after a gas cylinder exploded on board, blowing a hole in the fuselage. Miraculously, only a few people received minor injuries.


http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article4897076.ece

Xavi6

Yeah news just breaking here at the moment. No details as to exactly what the cause of the altitude change was but it's just another nail in the Qantas coffin.

A cynic would say this is great news for the budget airlines here in Oz as passengers are flocking to them more and more with incidents like this becoming all too frequent at Qantas.

Danbo!

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Australia-33-People-Hurt-In-Turbulence-That-Forced-Emergency-Landing-Of-Airbus-A330-300/Article/200810115114720?lpos=World_News_Carousel_Region_1&lid=ARTICLE_15114720_Australia%3A_33_People_Hurt_In_Turbulence_That_Forced_Emergency_Landing_Of_Airbus_A330-300

Thirty-three people have been injured, some with broken bones, after an Australian Airbus A330 airliner hit turbulence before making an emergency landing.

The Qantas aircraft made an emergency landing at Learmonth airfield in the northeastern town of Exmouth.

It was carrying 303 passengers from Singapore to Australia.

The Australian Air Transport Safety Bureau said in a statement: "While cruising in level flight, the aircraft experienced a sudden in-flight upset, resulting in injuries to a number of cabin crew and passengers, primarily in the rear of the aircraft.

"The crew declared a Mayday and diverted the aircraft to Learmonth, near Exmouth ... where it landed without further incident."

Police initially described the aircraft as an airbus A320 with 370 passengers on board, but Qantas later said flight QF72 was an A330-300 with 303 passengers and 10 crew.

"Early reports indicate that three cabin crew and approximately 30 passengers sustained injuries, including about 15 with serious injuries, namely broken bones and lacerations."

Learmonth has only one runway, about 10,000ft long, and is used mainly by oil and gas companies.

The nearest town is the port of Exmouth, around 700 miles north of Perth.

Qantas has been hit by a spate of incidents recently.

In one, Australian air safety investigators blamed an oxygen bottle for a mid-air explosion which blew a minivan-size hole in the side of Qantas 747 last month.

The Qantas 747-400 suffered a sudden loss of cabin pressure during a flight from Hong Kong to Melbourne on July 25, forcing the aircraft to make an emergency descent before diverting to the Philippines, where it landed safely in Manila.

The pilot landed the plane manually, with help from air traffic controllers in Manila, where all 346 passengers and 19 crew disembarked safely.

An A320 with 370 passengers!? no wonder everybody wasn't belted in :cool:

View Profile

How many times do passengers have to be told to always keep their seatbelt fastened.

Even in the cruise you should loosely fasten your seat belt.

Wonder why the crew declared a mayday??!

pclancy

Lot of people thinking its clear air turbulance. People really need to learn to sit with their belts on, incidents like this show everyone sitting was fine and anyone unbelted or standing up when they shouldnt be is in danger. Its very hard though to sit on a long flight with the belt on esepecially when you're trying to sleep. Plus if you're tall like me an hourly walk around the plane is essential to prevent cramps and DVT. So where's the compromise between safety and comfort?

Poor Qantas really are having a bad time of late and the media are really hounding them. They're quite used to the effects of flying over the jetstreams on their routes so this must have been very unexpected.

Could still turn out to be a system problem though...i'm just stabbing

Xavi6

View Profile wrote: »

How many times do passengers have to be told to always keep their seatbelt fastened.

Even in the cruise you should loosely fasten your seat belt.

Wonder why the crew declared a mayday??!

pclancy wrote: »

Could still turn out to be a system problem though...i'm just stabbing

Initial reports from air safety investigators suggest it was an "irregularity" with the onboard computer controls, hence the mayday.

jmayo

Shows how serious it was that they landed at first available airport in Australia.
Can't imagine Exmouth has much in way of facilities in comparison with the likes of Perth ?
Population of the town is just above 2,000 and I believe the old Naval and Air Force bases are long gone.

PS Pclancy, when you're flying back from NZ, don't take the Auckland-LAX route if you don't like long haul flights.
It was the worst flying experience of my life and it was in Quantas 747 to boot.

Cessna_Pilot

Qantas don't deserve any negative publicity for of this "incident". Any flight would have hit it at that place, at that time, so no need in getting on the anti Qantas brigade and trying to hold them responsible for it, or trying to find negligence on their part.

On the topic of the seatbelt sign being on during turbulence.. Over the past year I flew quite a few times across the Atlantic, the shocking thing I noticed was every time we hit some turbulence and the fasten seatbelt sign came on, people got up!
People who had been sitting quietly all flight decided as soon as the sign came on they'd get up and have a walk around, root about in the overhead comparment or just stand up for the sake of it, only to be told to sit back down and buckle in. It's their own fault if they get injured in that case.

Xavi6

Cessna_Pilot wrote: »

Qantas don't deserve any negative publicity for of this "incident". Any flight would have hit it at that place, at that time, so no need in getting on the anti Qantas brigade and trying to hold them responsible for it, or trying to find negligence on their part.

Of course Qantas are responsible if, as expected, it was caused by a computers glitch.

If it was purely environmental factors that were the cause then fair enough but I very much doubt it was going on news reports, interviews and the opinions of people I've spoken to.

Biro

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10536660

Xavi6

Now saying laptops weren't the cause

http://news.theage.com.au/national/laptops-did-not-cause-qantas-drop-20081010-4xzr.html

Fratton Fred

This reminds me of the simpsons episode when Bart turns off his gameboy and the plane starts "Plunging", then corrects itself when he turns it back on.

Xavi6

Lol Qantas are really having no luck at the moment -

http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/latest/5077789/seven-injured-in-qantas-bus-accident/

Xavi6

And yet another Qantas incident. They're certainly coveing all the bases!

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=653033

Injured Qantas passenger dies

17:46 AEST Fri Oct 24 2008

A 79-year-old man who fell down the stairs of a Qantas plane in Alice Springs has died in an Adelaide hospital.

While Qantas said the man's death was regrettable, they refused to comment because of ongoing talks with the family's lawyers.

It is believed the man was in a critical condition in Royal Adelaide Hospital for several weeks after he fell down metal steps when disembarking onto the tarmac on September 9.

peter1892

And another one - faulty wx radar this time...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7699712.stm

(bit of a non-story really!)

Xavi6

Yeah but it all adds fuel to the fire! Qantas are a great news source at the moment for all the wrong reasons. On the same day as the radar incident a flight had to be turned round shortly after it left Melbourne due to a dodgy landing gear. They aren't doing themselves many favours.

pclancy

Lol will Qantas ever get itself out of the news!

Today the 747 that was involved in the oxygen blowout was scraped against another whilst being towed

http://www.stuff.co.nz/4765180a12.html

pclancy

Oh dear-another incident! A dash 8 had to return to the airport with white smoke in the cockpit!! No injuries and a normal landing but yet more terrible press.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/4766223a12.html

Xavi6

Lol this all fantastic stuff. I'm pretty much guaranteed a Qantas story or two for my website every week!

pclancy

Doesnt seem to be affecting passenger confidence or anything, its just so unlucky to have these constant bad press stories.