Qantas 744 in DFW leaving early....or maybe it was late?

[Ben W]

Was flying out of DFW yesterday and saw a Qantas 744 depart at about 5pm local time from memory? That seemed a very odd time to me considering that would put it on the East cost of Aus around midnight there + with the curfew in SYD, it would likely stay in Brisbane? Anyone know what was happening with this flight? Aircraft was OEH

Cheers,

Ben

[Rowan McKeever]

Hey Ben

flightaware shows OEH departing at 5-something PM Tuesday from DFW & arriving 20 mins ago in Brisbane (2334 local time).

Cheers, Rowan

[Michael Mak]

The callsign according to Flightaware was 'Qantas 8 Delta' which indicates it might have been a delayed flight.

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/VHOEH/history/20120815/2230ZZ/KDFW/YBBN

[Rowan McKeever]

From The Qantas Source:

15th August 2012 - VH-OEH Departs Dallas-Fort Worth.
Following yesterday’s technical issue Boeing 747-438ER VH-OEH departed Dallas-Fort Worth late this afternoon operating yesterday’s delayed QF8 Dallas-Fort Worth - Brisbane - Sydney as QF8D.

and

14th August 2012 - VH-OEH Dallas-Fort Worth Delay.
Boeing 747-438ER VH-OEH arrived into Dallas-Fort Worth as QF7 today however the return QF8 Dallas-Fort Worth - Brisbane - Sydney has been delayed overnight indicating a technical issue with the aircraft.

[Ben W]

Thanks guys. Seems odd to me that they would send it at that time? It looks like it had a good 7 hour stop in Bris because of curfew before finally getting to SYD based off flightaware? Why wouldn't they of held off until an hour or so before the other QF8 flight that day? Must of been a gate availability issue or slot issue at DFW I guess? Would of been some tired people finally arriving in SYD, that's for sure!

[Matthew Chisholm]

Something on the tele this morning about 2 pilots having a bit of push and shove on the flight deck over entering flight data, hence why the flight was delayed.

[Jayden Laing]

here is the Daily Telegraph story:

QANTAS has stood down two pilots who argued in the cockpit of a Boeing 747 on the tarmac at Dallas's international airport.
A captain and second officer on a 747-400 disagreed over the take-off calculations they should be punching into the passenger jet's computer, Fairfax Media reports.
Qantas is investigating the dispute and has grounded the pilots.
The incident occurred on Tuesday night (US time) last week as a major thunderstorm rolled across Dallas, disrupting services at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.
As the pilots were close to exceeding their 20-hour duty limits due to delays caused by the weather, Qantas's flight operations managers kept the jumbo on the ground overnight.
The managers, informed later about the dispute, stood down the pilots.
The airline deployed replacement pilots to fly QF8 back to Sydney via Brisbane the next day.
The plane had been due in Brisbane at 5am on Thursday but touched down 18 hours later.
A Qantas spokesman confirmed to Fairfax that a captain and second officer had been withheld from service while an investigation was under way, but blamed the weather for the flight delay.
"Qantas flight QF8 from Dallas-Fort Worth to Brisbane on 14 August was delayed overnight as a result of severe thunderstorms in the Dallas area," he said.


http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/breaking-news/pilots-grounded-after-cockpit-argument/story-e6freuz0-1226454562836

[David C]

At least they didn't record a positive drug and alcohol test !...( just a tongue in cheek comment ) , however , inputting incorrect info into the FMC can have catastrophic consequences , so it's not surprising that there may be "healthy " discussion on the subject , but it should never descend into an argument ..

Dave C

[Jason H]

The SO should have just remembered that the Captain is always right

[Rowan McKeever]

Yeah coz that worked so well for the Emirates crew in Melbourne...

[Matthew Chisholm]

Wasnt that one of the contributing factors to the SIA accident in Taiwan many years ago? The SO didnt want to question the Captain's decision/authority ?

[Paul S.]

Not forgetting the Garuda crash in 2007 killing 16 including 5 aussies where the Capt ignored the FO and all the warnings, sadly the Capt is not always right!

[Jason H]

Yes it was a joke. Anyone know what the argument was actually about? Isn't the takeoff data sort of black and white anyway? Yes they have the performance to conduct the takeoff or no they don't....

[Rowan McKeever]

And yet again, the Emirates in MEL... the QF A380 in LAX. The performance data can be entered incorrectly

[Jason H]

But if it is entered incorrectly, and another crew member spots it, surely a quick check would confirm who is right. In the case of the Emirates, it was an error in the takeoff weight not picked up by the crew