Concern over Virgin safety

[Lukas M]

BUDGET airline Virgin Blue has cut back maintenance checks so much its pilots have had to ask ground crews to top up engine oil, insiders claim

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,23484925-3102,00.html

Includes Information about the Gold Coast Tyre Incident

[Michael Morrison]

From reading the article, Virgin are following the Maintenance rules from Boeing and adhering to CASA rules.... not sure what the big deal is?

[Lukas M]

Media must be low on stories today:o

[Greg F]

Finally some negative media attn for DJ, they must have been late with their monthly media bribe cash...

(p.s im kidding, but sometimes does make me wonder....)

[Lukas M]

Yes, I must say Virgin does do a great job of staying out of all the airline controversy that QF,JQ and TT seem to like playing in

[Greg F]

Yes I totally agree, I have a family member who is relatively senior in the QF group, and I hear stories about DJ TT JQ & QF, they all have 'incidents' but DJ certainly avoid the media attention, most of the time.

I mean other than here, and the article today when did you hear about the DJ tyre incident???????????

Oh hang on lets wind back to the JQ tyre incident......... Media Media Media..

Hmmmm....

[Rhys Xanthis]

I agree, they do seem to convenitently stay out of the news...

The media seem to really hate jetstar....they should hate tiger more! they arent australian!

[Andrew M]

Finally some negative media attn for DJ, they must have been late with their monthly media bribe cash...

(p.s im kidding, but sometimes does make me wonder....)

I have to agree on this one, anything QF/JQ always hits the media, yet most DJ "incidents" just go un-noticed.

Someone must have forgotton to take the news.com guys out to dinner this month... ;)

Can anyone get some truth into this for me please ? From the above mentioned article, what is the correct procedure to follow for a blown tyre on take off ?

"His concerns were supported by Engineers Association president Paul Cousins who said a tyre blow-out on a Coolangatta-bound Virgin Blue aircraft last week had increased concerns about the airline's procedures.

Mr Cousins said retraction of the landing gear after the tyre blew on takeoff from Sydney had probably caused the damage.

It would have been safer for the pilots to have done a circuit and landed in Sydney, without raising the wheels, he said. The shredded, wire-reinforced tyre was probably spinning at a fast rate and could have caused major damage to hydraulic lines and cables, he said."

[Lukas M]

They should hate tiger more! they arent australian!

Well they might as well hate every international carrier, trans tasman airline. Not many things are Australian these days. No, Tiger Airways arn't 100% aussie, but there half owned by the best airline in the world, and owned by the most successfull aviationists in the world (I Know ryanair suck:p)

Stupid comment

[Mick F]

Errr, I'm just finding it hard to work out, but what is wrong with ground crew topping up engine oil?? Would they rather them NOT top up the engine oil?

I've put oil into engines many times before, where's the media article to say I shouldn't be?

Floody

[Adrian B]

Errr, I'm just finding it hard to work out, but what is wrong with ground crew topping up engine oil?? Would they rather them NOT top up the engine oil?


they did it in Flying high ;)

[Nigel C]

I'm yet to see Capt Fourbars from any of the major airlines fill the oil him/herself. I've only ever seen the engineers doing it.:rolleyes:

Mr Cousins said retraction of the landing gear after the tyre blew on takeoff from Sydney had probably caused the damage.

It would have been safer for the pilots to have done a circuit and landed in Sydney, without raising the wheels, he said. The shredded, wire-reinforced tyre was probably spinning at a fast rate and could have caused major damage to hydraulic lines and cables, he said."

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but when the gear lever is lifted on the airliners, the brakes are applied automatically to stop gyroscopic forces twisting the gear out of shape and to stop any potential damage that spinning wheels might cause in the gear bay.

Sounds like Mr Cousins needs to find out the facts before sprouting off to the media...

[Ash W]

Are there any pay discussions going on at Virgin at the moment? It seems to me that aircraft incidents and horror stories of poor maintenance hit the media when there is some OTHER dispute, such as pay. Ie when there is an axe to grind.

[NickN]

The shredded, wire-reinforced tyre was probably spinning at a fast rate and could have caused major damage to hydraulic lines and cables, he said."


Please correct me if I'm wrong, but when the gear lever is lifted on the airliners, the brakes are applied automatically to stop gyroscopic forces twisting the gear out of shape and to stop any potential damage that spinning wheels might cause in the gear bay.


I was also of the understanding that the brakes were always applied prior to retraction. I thought that is relatively standard?

[Steve S... 2]

The reason why Virgin Blue made the news today is there was no incident involving a Qantas aircraft today... so who is next? Hey bored with Jetstar making headlines?... ahhh what's happening at Virgin Blue today!! :)

I cannot stand the media which is why I haven't bought a newspaper in 15 years or watched the news in just as many years and proud of it... each story is distorted, spiced up and had facts withheld, and most of it is B###S###. :p

How much would you like to bet over the next week or so, all of a sudden and out of the blue it appears Virgin Blue has maintenance issues? Don't you just love what the media does to its own country... :mad:

[Grant Smith]

How much would you like to bet over the next week or so, all of a sudden and out of the blue it appears Virgin Blue has maintenance issues? Don't you just love what the media does to its own country... :mad:

Steve,

What odds are you offering? ;)

[Montague S]

How much would you like to bet over the next week or so, all of a sudden and out of the blue it appears Virgin Blue has maintenance issues? Don't you just love what the media does to its own country... :mad:

by n large the media is pretty fair in this country..that is provided that you don't pick up a News Ltd rag. They are digging for a story and if there isn't one they'll make damn sure that there will be one. Sensational journalism is what they use to sell their rubbish.