Seven injured on Qantas after turbulence

[Greg McDonald]

From NEWS.COM.AU:

Seven people have been injured after a Qantas plane hit severe turbulence on a flight from Hong Kong to Perth.

Qantas corporate affairs manager David Epstein said the Airbus A330 hit the turbulence over Borneo, about four hours from Hong Kong.

"About four hours out of Hong Kong while it was flying over Borneo, it hit some very severe turbulence which the captain unfortunately didn't get a lot of notice about and as a result six passengers and one crew member sustained minor injuries," Mr Epstein told Fairfax Radio.

"Fortunately they were able to be treated on board and after receiving medical advice from our service provider ... the captain made the decision to fly on to Perth."

Mr Epstein said the plane carrying more than 200 passengers and 13 crew was operating normally.

He said there was nothing to link the incident to the aircraft type.

"It was a severe meteorological incident," Mr Epstein said.

Minor damage to two overhead panels in the cabin was also sustained in the incident and two oxygen masks were dislodged.

One of the 206 passengers on the plane, John said there was a loud bang followed by a sudden drop in altitude.

"As the plane was flying we got the normal turbulence but what happened this time was a sudden drop in altitude," he told Fairfax Radio.

"I was sitting at the exit door and I had this lady, (who) was waiting at the restroom and she flew up and hit the ceiling and came crashing down to the floor," he said.

"It was just a matter of a few seconds but it (the turbulence) was really sudden and things went flying..."

John said the elderly woman who hit the ceiling was shaken.

"She was on the floor and she was just traumatised..." he said.

[Tim C]

A/C was QPI.

[Ash W]

The Canberra times (a Fairfax paper) has a News Limited style story on it. Including reports that the radar wasn't working and the plane going into a total freefall. Now I wonder how far it really did fall?

http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news/national/national/general/qantas-jet-went-into-total-freefall-passenger/1547072.aspx

[Matt_L]

Saw that article- its appearing on all news limited sites now.

What a joke- can't they ever report factually and not rely on stupid passengers who say "it fell a reasonable distance" etc




Whilst this message board plays host, to allow members to freely and openly voice their own opinion, the so called "stupid passengers" you mention also have an opinion, and are free to say the aircraft fell a "reasonable distance" should they choose.
Let's just keep the media bashing out of this thread ;) Thank you - mod

[Gareth Forwood]

Just out of curiosity, in 'normal turbulence' that aircraft commonly encounter, how far is the aircraft actually moving vertically?

[Michael Atkin]

Exactly Matt.....it all would have happened so quickly and they say that most of the passengers were in shock, how would they know if the plane fell 200ft, 500ft or 1000ft unless they were someone like a pilot or something but even then u wouldnt know unless you had the instruments in front of you.

[Laurent Sanhard]

channel 7 just interviewed one passanger who said : quote: now I know how the passengers on air france felt . ... what a total load of garbage , as well as disrespect to the poor passengers on air France 447.
Have'nt these people heard of c.a.t before !

[Michael Atkin]

Well, my personal opinion is that those passengers would have no idea about how the passengers on that AF flight felt, thats my personal opinion though.

[NickN]

And if they did know how the AF pax felt they wouldn't be around to talk about it.

[Marty H]

Simply when seated keep your seat belt on.

[Robert S]

http://www.qantas.com.au/regions/dyn/au/publicaffairs/details?ArticleID=2009/jun09/3933

"The aircraft most likely encountered what is known as convective turbulence, which led to it rapidly gaining around 800 feet in altitude before returning to its cruising altitude of 38,000 feet.

"This convective turbulence is not normally visible to weather radar. At top of descent into Perth, the Captain explained this to passengers and also referred to the radar being designed to detect moisture but not ice crystals.

[Tom Lohdan]

Simply when seated keep your seat belt on.

The woman was outside the toilet in the exit row, seat belts off, and got bounced head to floor.

I agree always on, but how many times have you been standing without a seatbelt?

**** happens, but you won't find me on an Airbus for a while, never liked them before all this started, just didn't like them.

[Ash W]

**** happens, but you won't find me on an Airbus for a while, never liked them before all this started, just didn't like them.

I gather you won't fly Qantas either as a result?

How on earth did the fact that this was an Airbus aircraft have any bearing on what happened? It was turblence, there seems to be no argument about that and this could have happened to ANY aircraft or any airline for that matter.

Now if you were talking about the two issues near Perth in recent years then maybe, just maybe I could understand the comment, but not this one.

[James K]

The woman was outside the toilet in the exit row, seat belts off, and got bounced head to floor.

I agree always on, but how many times have you been standing without a seatbelt?

**** happens, but you won't find me on an Airbus for a while, never liked them before all this started, just didn't like them.

So what are you going to do next time a Boeing falls out from under you due turbulence? Walk or sail.

[Nigel C]

Fly vodka burning Antonov, da?

[Laurent Sanhard]

Tom Lohdan said quote : **** happens, but you won't find me on an Airbus for a while, never liked them before all this started, just didn't like them.


I take it you don't know a lot about aviation then , so you think that if you were on a 777-200 for example , , on the same flight path and alt. then there would have been no turbulence , you can get turbulence on any flight , regardless of aircraft manufacturer!

[Robert Zweck]

It was a meteorological event, nothing to do with Airbus or any other aircraft type

[Philip Argy]

Most people will go to the toilet a few times in an 8 hour flight, and many will stretch their legs with a walk up and down the aisle every few hours too. If the Fasten Seatbelt sign is not illuminated this is fine. It is just very unlucky to get clear air turbulence when you're not buckled up in your seat. That's why the recommended approach is to keep your seat belt fastened whenever you're not moving around the cabin.

This incident has nothing to do with the aircraft, its manufacturer or the airline, unlike other recent incidents where some correlation may be meaningful.

[Michael Atkin]

I agree, the incident has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that it was an Airbus, and quite frankly i'm getting a little sick of hearing on the media about how bad the Airbus A330 is and that it is not safe. i am taking into account what has just happened with AF and of course last year with Qantas, but the fact is that if the Aircraft was not safe then the airlines would ground them, i mean there are hundreds of these aircraft flying around the world everyday and how often do you hear about them dropping out of the sky. Don't get me wrong i'm not saying that everything on the A330 is perfect because recent events such as AF and Qantas last year have proved that there may be something not quite right, but the majority of the A330's around the world are safe.

[Robert Zweck]

You should do some flying out of Japan - then you will get to experience some 'turbulence' and I can assure you my friend, nature does not discriminate against manufacturers...

Back in the late 60's a BOAC Boeing 707 broke up in severe turbulence near Mt Fuji

[Krzysztof M]

You can't stay buckled in a seat for 8 hours!

Haha but you can for 6! Once on a flight across the Pacific we had mod turbulence with seatbelt sign on and flight attendants grounded for almost 6 hours straight. Mind you, at night on a United it was a looong 6 hrs.

By the way, at one point we hit severe turbulence and did drop a lot too (as explained by the captain later) but everybody was buckled up so no dramas except for general panic attacks. As much as I knew it's no big deal, it does feel scary, even for someone who spends on the 747s more time than on a bicycle..

[Rhys Xanthis]

As much as I knew it's no big deal, it does feel scary, even for someone who spends on the 747s more time than on a bicycle..

That feeling you get in your stomach when a plane sinks a little gets me every single time.

Infact the only time it didn't get me was when I went to Karratha in an E190 in a pretty dam steep climb!

[Michael Mak]

The final report was released by ATSB today:
http://www.atsb.gov.au/media/1571470/ao2009029.pdf

Extract from the report:
The cloud associated with the convective activity consisted of ice crystals; a form of water that has minimal detectability by aircraft weather radar. Consequently, the convective activity itself was not detectable by QPI’s radar. As the event occurred at night with no moon, there was little opportunity for the crew to see the weather.