QF - Emergency Landing

The Met · Posted: Tue Oct 07, 2008 9:51 pm

The Mirror
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2008/10/07/jet-terror-up-to-30-people-injured-after-30-minute-ordeal-when-qantas-plane-dropped-out-of-sky-115875-20781029/

Daily Telegraph
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/australiaandthepacific/australia/3151568/Qantas-emergency-landing-Nearly-40-injured.html

Itv
http://www.itv.com/News/Articles/Qantas-makes-emergency-landing-252878794.html

Up to 40 injured in Qantas mid-air jet 'upset'
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iRwyTQv8kp88rBqymM-LJIPZzUyg

[Diagram + Images on link]

PERTH, Australia (AFP) — Up to 40 passengers and crew were injured, some seriously, in a mid-air incident that forced a Qantas jetliner to make an emergency landing, the Australian carrier and police said on Tuesday.

The incident was the latest in a series that have tarnished the safety record of Qantas, which has long boasted a reputation of being one of the world's safest airlines.

The Airbus A330-300 made an emergency touchdown at an airfield near the Western Australian town of Exmouth after issuing a mayday call when the plane suddenly changed altitude during a flight from Singapore to Perth, Qantas said.

"A number of passengers and crew sustained injuries, including fractures and lacerations, on board QF72 this afternoon en route from Singapore to Perth following a sudden change in altitude," the airline said.

"Emergency services, including medical attendants, met the aircraft on landing," a statement from the 90-year-old Australian airline said.

Qantas could not immediately confirm the number of injured or whether it was turbulence or another factor that had caused the aircraft, which was carrying 303 passengers and 10 crew, to drop or rise suddenly during flight.

A fleet of emergency vehicles was on standby at the Learmonth air base, about 1,100 kilometres (680 miles) northeast of the state capital Perth, when the plane landed, said Sergeant Greg Lambert of the West Australian Police.

"It is understood up to 40 people were injured during a mid-air incident," he said.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) said early reports indicated that around 30 passengers and crew had been hurt, 15 of them sustaining serious injuries, including broken bones and cuts.

"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 bureau said in a statement.

"The crew declared a mayday and diverted the aircraft to Learmonth ... where it landed without further incident," it said, adding that it was sending seven investigators to Learmonth to establish what happened to the jet.

An emergency services worker said paramedics had boarded the Qantas aircraft and were tending to the injured after it touched down at around 1:35 pm (0535 GMT), 35 minutes before its scheduled landing time in Perth.

Australia's famed Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) said it was poised to dispatch four of its flying ambulances to airlift six to eight of the fracture victims to Perth for treatment, but said none were in danger.

"I don't believe that there are any in a life-threatening condition," said RFDS public affairs director Lesleigh Green.

"But if people have had hits on the head or have been hit by flying objects, until you actually assess that, you don't know whether it could be a spinal or neurological issue."

Qantas is sending two aircraft to Learmonth from Perth to collect passengers and crew stranded in the remote northwest of Australia.

In July, an exploding oxygen bottle punched a huge hole in the side of a Qantas Boeing 747-400, forcing an emergency landing in the Philippines. No passengers were injured in the mid-air drama.

The plane, which was carrying 365 people, was cruising at 29,000 feet (8,800 metres) en route from Hong Kong to Melbourne when the terrifying drama struck.

Australian air safety investigators in August announced a safety review of Qantas after two other incidents occurred involving its aircraft within two weeks.

On July 28, a Qantas Boeing 737-800 returned to Adelaide after a landing gear door failed to retract. In early August a Boeing 767 bound for Manila turned back to Sydney after developing a hydraulic fluid leak.

But the aviation watchdog, the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA), said that despite the review there was no evidence to suggest any links between three mid-air emergencies on Qantas flights.

This thread only to report factual information.

"People are pretty much alike. It's only that our differences are more susceptible to definition than our similarities." - Linda Ellerbee

siding · Posted: Wed Oct 15, 2008 4:57 am

AIR investigators say a faulty computer system was responsible for a terrifying mid-air plunge on a Qantas flight between Singapore and Perth last week.
A fault in the Airbus A330-300's air data inertial reference system is believed to have led to erroneous information being sent to its flight control computer, causing the autopilot to shut down.

The aircraft was cruising at 37,000 feet when the fault occurred, causing it to descend up to 650 feet in seconds.

More than 70 people were injured when the plane, carrying 303 passengers and 10 crew, suddenly dropped altitude, hurling people around the cabin and forcing the pilot to make an emergency landing at Learmonth in Western Australia.

Australian Transport Safety Bureau investigation director Julian Walsh said the faulty unit continued to feed "erroneous and spike values" to its primary computers.

"This led to several consequences, including false stall and overspeed warnings," he said.

"About two minutes after the initial fault (the air data inertial reference system) generated very high and incorrect values for the aircraft's angle of attack."

This led to the flight control computers commanding the aircraft to pitch down, Mr Walsh said.

"The crew's timely response led to the recovery of the aircraft's trajectory within seconds, and during the recovery, the maximum altitude lost was 650 feet."

Mr Walsh said analysis of the digital flight recorder showed the faulty air data system continued to generate false information, leading to a second, less serious "nose down aircraft movement".

The ATSB is expected to provide a preliminary factual report within three weeks.

There had been suggestions the incident may lead to the grounding of Airbus A330-300 models.
Mr Walsh today said that would be a matter for regulatory authorities.

"However, the information we have at hand indicates that this is a fairly unique event," he said.

"These aircraft have been operating over many hundreds of thousands of hours over many years, and this type of event has not been seen before."

"It's probably unlikely there will be a recurrence, but obviously we won't dismiss that, and it's important that we investigate to find out what led to the (fault) and reduce the chance of that happening in the future."

Mr Walsh said Airbus had provided advice to airlines operating the A330-300 that would minimise risk in the very unlikely event of a similar incident occurring again.
http://www.news.com.au/travel/story/0,26058,24497526-5014090,00.html

KRviator · Posted: Wed Oct 15, 2008 7:52 am

Interesting to note a Boeing 777 had a near-identical event, also off WA a couple of years ago...

What does this say about FBW?

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Comments made are strictly the opinion of the author and do not reflect the opinions of the ADF, Pacific National, Freight Australia or the Boy Scouts of Antartica.

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YM-Mundrabilla · Posted: Wed Oct 15, 2008 7:53 am

KRviator · Posted: Wed Oct 15, 2008 8:00 am

"Fairly Unique" = PR speak for "We've only had two of these in Australia"