pfletch1228 From South Africa, joined Aug 2006, 171 posts, RR: 0 Posted (2 years 6 months 1 week 3 days 7 hours ago) and read 14717 times:
Qantas 747-400 has just returned to JNB after an in flight shut down of an engine. They dumped fuel for about an hour then returned to JNB. Another one.. Sure this will hit CNN soon..
4holer From United States of America, joined Feb 2002, 2846 posts, RR: 10 Reply 1, posted (2 years 6 months 1 week 3 days 7 hours ago) and read 14702 times:
...Usually I feel that after an incident there is a quick trigger finger to shout panicked headlines at each minor issue that impacts the same carrier afterwards.
But I gotta wonder if there really is a flurry of unusual events with QF?
peterjohns From Germany, joined Jan 2009, 153 posts, RR: 2 Reply 2, posted (2 years 6 months 1 week 3 days 7 hours ago) and read 14531 times:
I´m beginning to feel sorry for somebody at QF Ops. To have a longrange flight divert can be a bit of a trouble, but to have four in a week (or was it five already?) is a nightmare.
What certainly won´t go down well, is that it wasn´t due to sick passengers or similar, but all due to technical reasons..
The QF spokesman can start learning a few statements!!
kaitak From Ireland, joined Aug 1999, 11956 posts, RR: 37 Reply 4, posted (2 years 6 months 1 week 3 days 6 hours ago) and read 14298 times:
Oh yes, you can just wait for the newspapers; shock horror, "we were all scared witless", yada, yada, yada.
As cc2314 says, these incidents happen to a lot of airlines; there is a procedure to follow and if a captain has doubts about engine performance, it's best to shut down and return; a pain for all concerned, but it happens and QF will deal with it in a safe, professional way, as it always does.
longhauler From Canada, joined Mar 2004, 4281 posts, RR: 36 Reply 5, posted (2 years 6 months 1 week 3 days 6 hours ago) and read 14274 times:
This focus on one airline after a major incident. I have seen it many times in the past. During the same time, the same frequency probably happened at just about every major airline on the earth.
Luckily it is Qantas. With a stellar reputation for safety, this is more just "bad luck" than a "bad airline".
Never gonna grow up, never gonna slow down .... Barefoot Blue Jean Night
B727LVR From United States of America, joined Jul 2008, 628 posts, RR: 0 Reply 7, posted (2 years 6 months 1 week 3 days 6 hours ago) and read 14205 times:
Quoting longhauler (Reply 5): Luckily it is Qantas. With a stellar reputation for safety, this is more just "bad luck" than a "bad airline".
Agreed!!! Qantas has it's past to stand behind them, to help them through this period.
I'm like a kid in a candy store when it comes to planes!
Aloha717200 From United States of America, joined Aug 2003, 4397 posts, RR: 17 Reply 9, posted (2 years 6 months 1 week 3 days 6 hours ago) and read 14034 times:
Didn't Delta go through a period similar to this, I think in the 80s, where a number of incidents were happening at once?
alangirvan From New Zealand, joined Nov 2000, 2091 posts, RR: 1 Reply 11, posted (2 years 6 months 1 week 3 days 5 hours ago) and read 13621 times:
Quoting longhauler (Reply 5): This focus on one airline after a major incident. I have seen it many times in the past. During the same time, the same frequency probably happened at just about every major airline on the earth.
So, just as a statistical thing, how many returns to departure point have BA, United, Air France, Singapore etc had recently that we have not read about, because they were just routine minor "rather safe than sorry" matters? Qantas have now had 6 since SFO
Zkpilot From New Zealand, joined Mar 2006, 4739 posts, RR: 10 Reply 12, posted (2 years 6 months 1 week 3 days 3 hours ago) and read 13267 times:
Most likely part of the problem is that the 744 fleet is being worked VERY hard right now (there are less 744s than 2 years ago doing the same amount of flying they did then by covering the A380). Whilst this is still considered safe, it does raise the risk of engine shutdowns due to less time for mx.
RyanairGuru From Australia, joined Oct 2006, 2530 posts, RR: 2 Reply 13, posted (2 years 6 months 1 week 3 days 3 hours ago) and read 13074 times:
Quoting 4holer (Reply 1): I gotta wonder if there really is a flurry of unusual events with QF?
This seems to happen at QF. After the hole appeared in the side of a 744 in 2008 the exact same thing happened: for the next few weeks nothing went right for them and there was incident after incident.
Most are no doubt 'routine' and the media merely jump on them in light of the recent *major* event and bash the story to death (after all, the Australian media love nothing more than a good bit of Qantas bashing).
Quoting Auchmithie (Reply 8): VH-OEI - the same machine that was
involved in the QF17 return to Sydney yesterday.
That says it all: the aircraft was out of service for less than a day after an incident which was *so serious* that it made about the first, second, third and fourth items on the evening news... (Move over Aung San Su Kyi )
They're not quite 'non-events' but try telling that to your average journo...
CabinC From United States of America, joined Aug 2010, 6 posts, RR: 0 Reply 14, posted (2 years 6 months 1 week 3 days 3 hours ago) and read 12899 times:
There is the old airline saying: "We are only as safe as our last flight". Their previous reputation should not grant them some sort of immunity. I am in no way saying that Qantas is a dangerous airline that is in the practice of flying unsafe planes. I am simply saying that just because they used to take care of their planes a certain way, does not mean they do now. Maybe they need to look at some of the things that they are doing and figure out why they are having so many unfortunate incidents.
kalvado From United States of America, joined Feb 2006, 471 posts, RR: 0 Reply 18, posted (2 years 6 months 1 week 3 days 2 hours ago) and read 12633 times:
Quoting alangirvan (Reply 11): So, just as a statistical thing, how many returns to departure point have BA, United, Air France, Singapore etc had recently that we have not read about, because they were just routine minor "rather safe than sorry" matters? Qantas have now had 6 since SFO
According to airfleets.net Qantas has 69 long haul jets (excluding grounded A380), powered by 190 engines.
Assuming those are airborn for 168 hours a week non-stop, that's about 32K engine hours weekly.
To keep ETOPS certification there should be less than 1 IFSD per 20K of operation (i.e. 1 per 40K engine hours), with the goal of 1 per 50K hours.
I know, most of those engines are on 747 hence not ETOPS, but that's basic idea of how often IFSD should happen.
kalvado From United States of America, joined Feb 2006, 471 posts, RR: 0 Reply 21, posted (2 years 6 months 1 week 3 days 1 hour ago) and read 12481 times:
Quoting Kent350787 (Reply 20): eporting bird strike as the cause of the shutdown
Quote: The strike caused considerable damage to the engine on the Boeing 747's, meaning the aircraft will remain in Johannesburg indefinitely..
I can hear someone in QF headquarters yelling "NO!!"
Kent350787 From Australia, joined May 2008, 888 posts, RR: 0 Reply 24, posted (2 years 6 months 1 week 3 days 1 hour ago) and read 12285 times:
Quoting babybus (Reply 23): It's reassuring to see it's not just their Airbus they are having problems with.
In fact, most of the incidents are Boeings (the bulk of the fleet), and the recent ones are evenly split between RR and GE engines if you exclude the QF17 smoke incident.
No recent A330 or 737 incidents.....
25 Viscount724: I recall DL had two 727s that landed at the wrong airports (both in Florida) in less than a month in 1980. DL was the butt of jokes on the late night
26 DocLightning: Woah woah woah woah.... Let's get off the "minor" issue wagon, shall we? People love to call anything short of a hull loss with all hands lost "minor
27 USAirways787: Talk about bad luck for Qantas but I would not hesitate to step on one of their planes tomorrow. I think most of is a run of bad luck and the press co
28 Kent350787: The one constant is QF, you're right. That said, today's bird strike is hardly their fault....
29 AusA380: Can not see how a bird strike is a maintenance issue.
31 cpd: I don't see how QF maintenance can have anything to do with a bird strike? Maybe you'll explain it for us though.
32 NZ2: Apparently Qantas is painting out all the flying Kangaroo's and replacing them with a Boomerang.....
33 qantasguy: "Apparently Qantas is painting out all the flying Kangaroo's and replacing them with a Boomerang....." Very Good! Obviously, I love Qantas, and I'm su
34 DocLightning: I would right now. It's not that I'm concerned about dying, but I would be concerned about getting to my destination on time without a bunch of aggra
35 TempestDriver: The event JNB-SYD was a minor birdstrike; a few fan blades in one engine damaged. Don't know how many of you have seen such fan blades but I have seen
36 imag: According to the article below, only 171 people on board. That's not a lot. http://www.news24.com/World/News/Qan...ght-in-Johannesburg-scare-20101117
37 sydks: Actually I think you will find that it was identified as a bird strike in reply 20. Your rant blamed 'a QF maintenance issue' 6 posts later. Hardly s
38 9V-SVC: I can't say the same thing as you, its not only about the safety issue, its all about getting to your destination ON TIME. With the sudden increase o
40 ditzyboy: Every flight I operate out of JNB is completely full! I have had varying loads going over but always full coming home. November is a normally a slow
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