Qantas 737 Mayday

[turboplanner]

5 hours ago, Love to fly said:

All way outside my knowledge & experience, but I think once the Oceanic Datalink Comms transmission was triggered so was the Squawk 7700.  Media and many others monitor FlightRadar24 and similar for any aircraft squawking 7700.

So that's where the name comes from.

[Blueadventures]

3 hours ago, onetrack said:

It's all about the impression of readiness. The people organising the ambulances obviously have no understanding of what a single engine landing entails, and they have been told to expect "injuries".

So they read "aircraft emergency landing" to attend to, and they envisage another UA Flight 232 event.

Best to be ready and standdown; than be needed and experience delays in responding.

[Garfly]

4 hours ago, onetrack said:

The people organising the ambulances obviously have no understanding of what a single engine landing entails ...

And even those who DO have "understanding of what a single engine landing entails" can not know what it MIGHT entail (what, with one having quit for unknown reasons).

I'd be rolling the ambos if it was up to me, if only for fear of looking like a goose if it ended badly - a BA38 style arrival, say - with nary a first-aider in sight.

 

(BA Flight 38: the 777 that fell a bit short at LHR 15 years back.)

  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Airways_Flight_38  )

[turboplanner]

Two more 737s turned back from Melbourne today.

[facthunter]

There's plenty of talk about maintenance outsourced to Malaysia. The CEO buys planes he is told don't need maintenance in the past.. Keeping quiet about the nature of the first engine failure. Nev

[red750]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11657025/FIFTH-Qantas-flight-turned-Adelaide-fault-indication.html?ito=social-facebook_Australia

[red750]

Just another example of a journalistic brainfart when it comes to reporting anything aviation. The Herald-Sun published a photo purporting to show "Visible damage to Qantas 737 engine after mayday".

 

The picture showed the open thrust reverser door on the STARBOARD engine of a 737 when the engine failure occurred on the PORT engine.

 

[kgwilson]

It doesn't even look like that engine photo is from that aircraft. 

[red750]

Well spotted, kgw. If the concrete barrier obscures the nosewheel, how can the taxiway beneath the engine be visible?

[facthunter]

I think there will be more to emerge about this yet. A current article by Crikey is worth a read.  Nev

[Methusala]

On 20/01/2023 at 8:43 AM, Love to fly said:

Media and many others monitor FlightRadar24 and similar for any aircraft squawking 7700.

30+ years ago. I had a spar failure in a Pteradactyl on take off. (Yes, in those days safety reports were written on such events, look it up!) Anyway, my point is that the local commercial radio station, obviously through monitoring emergency vehicle frequencies, had reported an ultralight aircraft crash had killed the pilot. Thus my family were aware of my premature death before I was. Don't trust the media! Don

[facthunter]

THAT is unfortunately very true. Sensation (Headlines) beats boring truth and on the worst TV shows the ' Panel' is the Entertainment and SHOW and any facts are purely Co incidence.   "You're not wrong Young Harry). He's lit out on the Part Murdoch plays in all of the ROYAL Hoo Haa. In my view he's the best of  all that mob by a long way. Jeremy Clarkson is a grub. . Nev

[pmccarthy]

Young Harry has not been around since Moe McCachy retired.

[spenaroo]

One of the most amusing things for me is Qantas has been known as the preferred option for safety....

 

When Virgin (both the English and the Australian company) have such a clean record, and are arguably the biggest competitor

[Yenn]

Others may have a good record, but compare it with Qantas and what is your answer. A few years ago I googled safest airline and the answer was KLM. It seems they started record keeping after the big KLM crash.

When did Qantas last have a fatal accident? When will they have another? Going on their current record it could be any day soon. It looks as if maintenance is not being done properly.

[spenaroo]

21 minutes ago, Yenn said:

Others may have a good record, but compare it with Qantas and what is your answer. A few years ago I googled safest airline and the answer was KLM. It seems they started record keeping after the big KLM crash.

When did Qantas last have a fatal accident? When will they have another? Going on their current record it could be any day soon. It looks as if maintenance is not being done properly.

the answer is that Qantas had good PR, but the record isn't exactly matching.
 

Virgin Atlantic have had 2 major incidents but both aircraft are still flying and haven't had a fatality.

Hawaiian airlines has been flying since 1929 with no hull losses.

QANTAS has never had a fatal jet accident, But they were crashing seaplanes and DH. 84's into the 50's

they just happen to have built this reputation thanks to a movie line a few decades ago.

in fact of the list of Airlines that have never had a fatal accident.... QANTAS doesn't appear (except as JetStar)
 

1. Air Berlin
2. Air Europa
3. AirTran Airways
4. Allegiant Airways
5. Cape Air
6. Chautauqua Airlines
7. CommutAir
8. DragonAir
9. Easyjet
10. Emirates
11. Era Alaska
12. Expressjet Airlines
13. Frontier Airlines
14. GoJet Airlines
15. Hainan Group
16. Hawaiian Airlines
17. Horizon Air
18. Jazz air
19. Jet airways
20. JetBlue
21. Jetstar
22. Lion Airlines
23. Mesa Airlines
24. Olympic Airways
25. Oman Airways
26. Pinnacle Airlines
27. Qatar Airways
28. Republic Airlines
29. Ryanair
30. Shenzhen Airlines
31. Shuttle America
32. Southwest Airlines
33. Spirit Airlines
34. Swiss
35. Trans State Airlines
36. Transaero Airlines
37. Ukraine International Airlines
38. Vietnam Airlines
39. Virgin Atlantic
40. Virgin America
41. Virgin Australia
42. Vueling
43. Westjet

[onetrack]

Qantas incurred many fatalities during WW2 when flying on Govt charter. The Japs shot down anything in the air that wasn't a Japanese aircraft. A Qantas Short Empire shot down during WW2 incurred 13 fatalities.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1942_Qantas_Short_Empire_shootdown

[facthunter]

The A380 incident was lucky anyone got off it alive.   The PR  dept has been in overdrive. No JET pax deaths in 100 years. When you cut maintenance you don't improve safety. Get rid of your regular  staff and hire off the street. Great for MORALE too. Nev

[turboplanner]

7 minutes ago, facthunter said:

The A380 incident was lucky anyone got off it alive.   The PR  dept has been in overdrive. No JET pax deaths in 100 years. When you cut maintenance you don't improve safety. Get rid of your regular  staff and hire off the street. Great for MORALE too. Nev

Richard knew what he was doing.

[onetrack]

The worst Qantas loss was the Avro Lancastrian (G-AGLX) that is believed to have exploded in mid-air due to suspected fuel leakage over the Indian Ocean between Columbo and the Cocos-Keeling Islands in 1946.

However, violent weather associated with crossing the ITCZ may also have been a factor. 

 

No trace of it was ever found, and all 10 on board perished. However, this aircraft was actually owned by BOAC, although it was operated by Qantas on the Colombo-Perth service.

 

https://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19460323-0

 

 

Edited January 23, 2023 by onetrack

[kgwilson]

There have now been 6 incidents in less than a week, the latest turnback to Fiji with fumes from the galley oven cited as the issue. Maybe it is just that these have all been reported in the Press when they normally wouldn't. Apparently there are over 10,000 turnbacks annually with Qantas averaging 60. They are well ahead of their average this year if the last week is anything to go by.

[facthunter]

Whether you "turn back " or not depends on whether you have reached an equi time point. Many are a result of passenger behaviour, medical emergency and weather changes. You need a better definition. Turnback is a more military connotation.  "Unscheduled diversion or abnormal landing condition etc.".  Nev

[Old Koreelah]

23 hours ago, facthunter said:

…Turnback is a more military connotation.  "Unscheduled diversion or abnormal landing condition etc.".  Nev

Better than having a rapid, unscheduled disassembly.

[red750]

A flight from Perth to Kalgoolie returned to Perth with technical difficulties at 5:20 lasdt night.

[onetrack]

It was a Fokker 100, and it was a fault that wasn't really serious enough to turn the flight around - but it meant it had to be addressed upon landing in Kalgoorlie.

 

However, due to a shortage of engineers in Kalgoorlie, the decision was made to turn back to Perth, where engineers were actually available to rectify the fault.

 

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-01-24/qantas-flight-perth-to-kalgoorlie-turned-back-mechanical-issues/101889308