QF A380 blows tyres on landing at YSSY

[Jayden Laing]

A Qantas A380 has just landed at Sydney and blown 2 tyres on landing. The noise from the blowout was amazing! There were sparks, flames and smoke everywhere. There is a bad smell of burning rubber coming from the plane which is on the runway at the moment surrounded by the emergency vehicles.

[Maikha Ly]

I'm listening to it all now on the scanner.

[Dan Hammond]

Just wait till this one hits the news reels. Anyone think we might see in a news report a passenger fearing for their life story? :rolleyes:

[phil.l]

Rego?

[Jayden Laing]

No rego as of yet Phil. I am working over at Virgin Blue Terminal & it was a bit far to catch it. Still currently on the runway just in front of the Tower with fire trucks around it. There appears to be what looks like a couple of news helicopters hovering around it so no doubt it will definately be on the news tomorrow.

[Zac M]

No A380s have been registered on ACARS since QF11 departed.

[Jayden Laing]

Don't know possibly. It is Qantas however and they tried to get some footage of the Qantas 747 landing in rain yesterday.

[Radi K]

Atis atis yssy w 310913
+ apch:
+ rwy: 16l
+ opr info:
Wind: 190/15.
Xw max 12 kts
vis: Gt 10km
cld: Few020
tmp: 20
qnh: 1018

rwy 16r/34l not avbl
due disabled acft
from 03 310934 to 03 311130 est

[Grahame Hutchison]

I noticed OQC on PlanePlotter, coming in as QF32 earlier this evening.

The aircraft is still blocking Runway 16R, currently 25 for arrivals and 16L for departure.

[Jason Le]

Was there an evacuation?

[Grahame Hutchison]

I think this may confirm OQC, it landed around 2010 according to the Sydney Airport website.

ACARS mode: B Aircraft reg: VH-OQC [Airbus A380]
Message label: Q0 Block id: 3 Msg no: S32A
Flight id: QF0032 [LHR-SIN-SYD] [Qantas]
----------------------------------------------------------[ 31/03/2010 10:29 ]-

[Steve Crook]

TG471 an A340-600 just landed on 16L

[Michael Rychter]

Just received a SMS from my daughter (with my two granddaughters) passengers on QF32. She said it was a dramatic landing with two tyres blown but all fine. They are on a bus coming into the terminal. Seems no baggage tonight though.

Wasn't OQC the bird that had an engine change at LHR last week???

[Brian Wilkes]

Thats it time to retire the thing to Mojave!

[Grahame Hutchison]

Malaysian 140 B777-200 departed off 16L.

[Jayden Laing]

The only evacuation that we could see was that there were a heap of buses and mobile stairs making their way to the aircraft about 25-30mins after it landed. One of my fellow workmates who witnessed it as well said that he thought the A380 landed quite heavily. I presume that this could have been the reason for the blowout??

[Nigel C]

Sounds like a fun night on the farm for all those involved. I'm glad I only had to deal with the QF5 event last night and not this schmozzle:cool:

Looks like the disruption will continue for some time, with the latest Notam suggesting it may well go to and possibly beyond 0100 tomorrow morning...
From www.airservicesaustralia.com
C0561/10 REVIEW C0560/10
RWY 16R/34L NOT AVBL
DUE DISABLED ACFT
FROM 03 311014 TO 03 311400 EST

[Grahame Hutchison]

SYDNEY TERMINAL INFORMATION BRAVO

Runway: 25 FOR ARRS, RWY 16L FOR DEPS
Operational Info: RWY 16R NOT AVBL DUE DISABLED AIRCRAFT.
CURFEW RESTRICTIONS APPLY FROM TIME 1 1 4 5,
ALL DEPS 16 DIRECTION AFTER TIME 1 1 4 5
WIND: 230/10.
CROSSWIND 10 KNOTS RWY 16L
Weather: CAVOK - (Ceiling and Visibility OK)
Temperature: 18
QNH: 1018

[Grahame Hutchison]

The last pickup on PlanePlotter was 0ft and Heading 228, so it may have started to turn off the runway but not quite made it (possibly the Alpha 4 Rapid).

[NeilP]

A Qantas A330 and China Airlines A330 just departed off 07. Gonna be a noisy half hour or so over Bexley...?

[Matt_L]

As at now 2254 plane is still on runway 16R.

As for the extra noise- serves Albanese right:P

[Gerard M]

From over the radio just now, not a direct quote but something along the lines of "blew a couple of tyres, axle twisted and gauged into the runway". "sitting on it until about 4 oclock."

[Matt_L]

copied and noted

cheers

[Nadia B-J]

G'day,

I was flying in from ADL on DJ 437 (7377) @ 20.25hrs and saw many emergency vehicles surrounding the QF A380 on the runway. :eek:

T'was a sight you couldn't miss whilst returning to the gate.

Whilst disembarking from the rear stairs, the DJ ground staff confirmed the story above as true.

Am sure the media will be orgasmic with this event.... oh dear!

[Brian Wilkes]

Any of the nights freight ops disrupted due to this?

[Greg McDonald]

Just wait till this one hits the news reels. Anyone think we might see in a news report a passenger fearing for their life story? :rolleyes:

Ask and ye shall receive.....

From NEWS.COM.AU

FLAMES shot out from the undercarriage of a Qantas A380 last night when two tyres burst as it landed at Sydney Airport - the second emergency involving the airline in the past 48 hours.

A worker at the airport told The Daily Telegraph he heard a huge roar and then flames coming from under plane.

"I thought there was a serious crash, there were sparks and flames shooting out everywhere," he said.

"And the noise was deafening, like cannons going off.

"I really thought something catastrophic had happened."

The 241 passengers on board QF32 from London via Singapore were stranded on the tarmac for nearly two hours before being bussed to the terminal to meet anxious relatives.

"We saw from the observation deck and when it touched down the left wheel burst into flames and there were sparks and fire from the left-hand side and there was black smoke and when it went down the runway it stopped," said Mr Wayne Morris, 58, who was waiting for his wife Maria to arrive from a London holiday.
" The control tower said on the radio that all the tyres were blown.

"I was very concerned because you don't expect to see flames from a plane and after the engineers went on strike it makes you ask the question about safety."

The incident comes after a Singapore-bound Qantas 747 was forced to return to Sydney Airport on Tuesday evening due to engine troubles.

Passengers on last night's flight said the landing seemed routine at first.

Ramy Filo, 48 said it was only after the the landing that she realised that the situation could have been dangerous.

"At the time it happened I was not scared but in hindsight you realise anything could of happened," she said.

Michelle Coffman, 39, from London, was travelling with her two daughters to vist her parents in Sydney.

"It seemed like a safe landing then we heard the tyres went down to the metal," she said.

[Michael Rychter]

... so it may have started to turn off the runway but not quite made it (possibly the Alpha 4 Rapid).

One of my fellow workmates who witnessed it as well said that he thought the A380 landed quite heavily. I presume that this could have been the reason for the blowout??


So, the inference is that he rolled off onto a taxiway a bit too quickly???

[Sarah C]

Thats it time to retire the thing to Mojave!

:p Yeah, it is a danger every time you get on one!!

[Bernie P]

Was on EK419 at the hold for 16th and saw it from 32k. Looked freaky. More later when I get to Dubai.

[Philip Argy]

I'd have thought towing the disabled a/c off 16R/34L would be a higher priority. Was there some reason it couldn't be moved?

One of the earlier posts suggested the runway was gouged by a broken axle - is that correct and would that delay a tow?

16R is in use now so I assume whatever gouging occurred was minor?

Also, one report says pax were kept on the a/c for two hours and another says the stairs were taken to the a/c within 30 minutes - which is correct, or are they both correct?

[JamesW]

The control tower said on the radio that all the tyres were blown.

Weird, I was listening to the live ATC stream all night which streams on both W&E tower, and the only thing mentioned was about 2 wheels being busted and the axel being stuck in the runway surface. Might be time to bust out the LiveATC archive, and sent it over to NEWS.COM.AU :)

[Philip Argy]

One report this morning says it was the nose gear axle that broke - that would explain the delayed tow. I had assumed a main gear tyre burst until I saw that report.

Come on you guys on the spot - how about some good quality facts so we don't have to speculate or rely on the media!

[Nigel C]

Philip,
These 'guys on the spot' you're referring to typically aren't actually on the spot i.e. speaking with the people under the aircraft, looking at the aircraft as an engineer, looking at the runway etc, but rather commentate from the other side of the fence or receive and commentate second, third and fourth hand reports from the aprons or from the odd remark made on ATC radio. Therefore the accuracy of many 'facts' must come into question and in many cases is as good as reading about it in the media in the first place.

Further, the media most probably trawl these message boards for the 'latest info' on these incidents, hoping to get the scoop. Or perhaps people have the Telegraph on speed dial waiting for news to break. For example, Greg's post had a quote from www.news.com.au...
A worker at the airport told The Daily Telegraph he heard a huge roar and then flames coming from under plane.
"I thought there was a serious crash, there were sparks and flames shooting out everywhere," he said.
"And the noise was deafening, like cannons going off.
"I really thought something catastrophic had happened."


Which looks quite similar to this from the lead post in this thread...
A Qantas A380 has just landed at Sydney and blown 2 tyres on landing. The noise from the blowout was amazing! There were sparks, flames and smoke everywhere. There is a bad smell of burning rubber coming from the plane which is on the runway at the moment surrounded by the emergency vehicles.

Coincidence?

[Paul f.]

Reports of it had brake problems in Singapore.

[Philip Argy]

My reference to 'guys on the spot' was exactly what I meant - people on this board who were on the scene and know what happened and are free to tell us.

[Nigel C]

Judging by the lack of intimate 'facts', I'm guessing there weren't any 'guys on the spot'. We'll have to wait for the official report.

[Kurt A]

A Qantas A330 and China Airlines A330 just departed off 07. Gonna be a noisy half hour or so over Bexley...?

Rwy 25 ?

[Laurent Sanhard]

:confused:the only two scenarios I can think of , is 1: the nose wheel was'nt line up properply on landing (happened at LHR with a QFA380 a while back), or the front wheels locked up on landing, front brake probs

can't see how a heavy landing would blow both front tyres

just stating the obvious, in my opinion:cool:

[NeilP]

Rwy 25 ?

That's the one:rolleyes:

[Jayden Laing]

Runway 25 was in operation for takeoff's of the heavies & landings. EK413 the TG A340-600 both took off from 25 last night. Judging by the photograph in today's Daily Telegraph, it looked it was main gear problem Laurent.

[Danny Rizk]

Media is currently asking for any footage of the heavy landing....
Good luck!

[Michael Cleary]

And just going back to Nigel's suggestion regarding the media trawling the web - theaustralian.com au has a statement in their story:

There is speculation on aviation internet message boards that brakes on the aircraft locked up, causing the tyres to burst.

Words to that effect have been seen in posts in this Thread.


I'm with Nigel - I'll wait for the facts to emerge from those whose job it is to publish them.

[Andrew M]

For example, Greg's post had a quote from www.news.com.au...


Which looks quite similar to this from the lead post in this thread...


Coincidence?

I posted this "coincidence" on here last night when I saw it on various news.com.au websites and my post was deleted...

Interesting.....

[David Knudsen]

Andrew M, I have looked through all our moderation logs since this thread began and can assure you we haven't deleted or edited anything in this thread. Your account shows that your last post before 12:11 PM Today was 27th March 2010, 11:55 AM.


Perhaps you are mistaken?

[Kurt A]

Strangely, I can confirm the same, nothing untoward here :confused:

[Philip Argy]

One possible explanation, AndrewM: you previewed your post and then inadvertently browsed to another location without submitting the reply - I'm sure many of us have done that and later wondered where our post went!

[Andrew M]

David and Kurt - Thanks for checking :) , no idea what I did then!

I even did very minimal quoting :p

[Darryl Schlodder]

Laurent Sanhard
the only two scenarios I can think of , is 1: the nose wheel was'nt line up properply on landing (happened at LHR with a QFA380 a while back), or the front wheels locked up on landing, front brake probs

Considering that there are no brakes on the nose wheels of the A380. And I got that information direct from a A380 engineer.

VH-OQC was back in service late today, QF31 I think!

[Grahame Hutchison]

Confirmation it's back in the air ...

ACARS mode: 1 Aircraft reg: VH-OQC [Airbus A380]
Message label: ** Block id: @ Msg no: 6ece
Flight id: QF0031 [SYD-SIN-LHR] [Qantas]
Message content:-
SBS-1 Callsign: QFA31
----------------------------------------------------------[ 01/04/2010 09:21 ]-

[Darryl Schlodder]

Thanks Grahame;););););););)

[Jarrad Phillips]

I thought the that footage they showed of the tail cam video looked specky...i just wondered why the guy had his video camera going during landing when all electronic devices needed to be switched off.....isnt that we are told all the time!

[NeilP]

I had the same thought. There's quiet a few of them on youtube...

[Benny Zheng]

Here's a shot i took of OQC when it's taxing to 16R as QF31. You can see they had probably changed the brakes on the left wheels.

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b2/zwgbenny/1%20April%202010/IMG_5004A800.jpg

[Tony G]

Well done to the maintenance staff in getting the aircraft back into service so quickly. Can never post enough positive comments about maintenace staff :D.

[Philip Argy]

The frequency with which we get brake lockups on the A380 suggests that there is a design problem which needs attention - I hope it is sorted out soon.

It also seems unfair to treat this as a QF issue or even as a QF engineering issue, although other airlines like Singapore don't seem to have this level of problem with their A380 brakes locking - perhaps they do and we just don't hear about it.

The SkyCam seems to show that the brakes in question were on the trailing wheels of the left bogey under the left wing, so how would this cause the nose wheel tyres to blow - was it a skew force?

[Tony G]

Excellent logic Philip. It did look like it came from the l/h mainwheel well. If that is the case, aircrew did a great job keeping the a/c on the runway. Did not notice any skewing or deviation of the aircraft on the video.

[Nigel C]

Firstly, the nose gear tyres DID NOT BLOW. Media referral to them blowing was an absolute crock of %$@&

This picture from http://www.news.com.au/travel/news/another-qantas-drama-as-tyres-burst-into-flames-at-sydney-airport/story-e6frfq80-1225848280655 quite clearly shows all the attention around the main gear. In fact I don't think there's anyone even standing at the nose gear...
http://resources0.news.com.au/images/2010/04/01/1225848/330812-qantas.jpg

Secondly, what 'frequency' of brake issues are you referring to? Can you provide links or evidence of this?

[Philip Argy]

I have only flown on the A380 twice, Nigel, and on both occasions there was a brake lockup problem on landing according to what the captain reported to pasengers. On the first occasion last October we blocked a taxiway at Heathrow for a good 20 minutes while fire crews checked the brakes for overheating following the lockup. On the second occasion after landing in Singapore we had to be towed the last 100m to the gate due to a "brake problem".

The first occasion from memory was OQA and the second occasion was OQC.

On top of my personal experience I have read media reports of A380 brake locking incidents over the past 12 months that seem consistent with there being a design issue causing brake locking on A380 aircraft. Here's the earliest one I could find on a quick search: http://www.impactpub.com.au/micebtn/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1620&Itemid=50

[Nigel C]

Your link merely says braking problems...it doesn't mention lockups, which is what you were inferring to as being a frequent problem.

For the couple of times this may have occurred, I'd hardly say it's a worrying 'frequency'. And given you were on both of them, perhaps it's not the aircraft's fault...:p

I'm sure if there was a major problem with brake locking we'd have seen and be hearing repeats of Sydney's incident everywhere where the A380's travel.


There were, however, initial concerns over brake cooling on the A380, which Singapore rectified by having cooling systems retrofitted to their first A380's. I understand the initial tight turn around between Singapore and Sydney exposed this issue.
Since that retrofit was done I've not been aware of any more issues with cooling. I presume Qantas had the same system fitted to theirs.

[Brian Wilkes]

Good point on the cooling system Nigel. SQ were also concerned about the extra weight this would have on the aircraft!

I guess it was not a problem.......

[Benny Zheng]

Today's QF31 to Singapore on the A380 seems to be delayed till 2239. Does any one have any idea for the delay?

[Peter Agatsiotis]

According to PP OQE is to operate QF31 and checking my Basestation log OQE arr as QF32 at around 8:30pm so this would account for the late departure.

QF31 airborne now.