QF17 and SQ212 return to YSSY - 15NOV

[Geoff W]

Gee QF are really getting battered from pillar to post at the minute.

Kind regards,

Geoff


From The Age:

Qantas flight turns back to Sydney
Paul Tatnell and Glenda Kwek
November 15, 2010 - 2:47PM

A Qantas plane en route to Argentina has been forced to return to Sydney after an electrical problem led to smoke in the cockpit, the fifth in-flight or pre-flight incident since an engine failure on a Singapore-bound A380 flight 11 days ago.


QF17, which took off from Sydney Airport at 11.11am today with 199 passengers on board, turned back about an hour into the flight to Buenos Aires, a Qantas spokeswoman said.
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A friend of one of the passengers said the pilot announced there was smoke coming from the instrument panel.

A Qantas spokesman confirmed an electrical problem had caused the smoke.

The Boeing 747-400, with three flight and 18 cabin crew, touched down safely at Sydney Airport at 1.22pm after priority clearance to land was given by air traffic control, a Qantas spokesman said.

"Engineers are inspecting the aircraft to determine the cause of the issue. Passengers have disembarked into the terminal building," the spokesman said.

"Reports that the aircraft lost pressure in the main cabin are incorrect. Oxygen supply to the cabin was unaffected."

The spokesman said the incident was reported to the Civil Aviation Safety Authority and the Air Transport Safety Bureau.

"Qantas regrets the inconvenience to passengers and will seek to make contingency arrangements for those affected."

A replacement flight would leave Sydney at 5pm, the spokesman said.

On Saturday, a missing screw delayed a Qantas flight from Sydney to Melbourne by an hour, while a QantasLink flight to Sydney from Coffs Harbour was delayed by five hours after a warning light indicated a problem with the engines as it came in to land.

[Kurt A]

QANTAS STATEMENT ON QF17
SYDNEY, 15 November 2010:


Qantas Flight 17 from Sydney to Buenos Aires today, operated by a Boeing 747, returned to Sydney after experiencing an issue with the aircraft’s electrical system.

The aircraft departed at 11:11am and landed safely back at Sydney Airport at 1:22pm. Priority clearance to land was gained from air traffic control, following procedure. There were 199 passengers, three flight crew and 18 cabin crew on board.

Engineers are inspecting the aircraft to determine the cause of the issue. Passengers have disembarked into the terminal building. Reports that the aircraft had lost pressure in the main cabin are incorrect. Oxygen supply to the cabin was unaffected. The incident has been reported to the Civil Aviation Safety Authority and the Air Transport Safety Bureau.

The flight crew operating the service acted appropriately in line with their training and with Qantas’ safety-first approach. Qantas regrets the inconvenience to passengers and will seek to make contingency arrangements for those affected.

Further details will be released as they become available.

-qf

[Geoff W]

"It was OEI and it landed around 1320.

It's amazing how the Qantas return gets mentioned, but nothing of the other international airline that performed an air return not that long before it...."

Nigel,

I reckon QF should charge for pics of QF tails on news sites, every journo must be just sitting there with one in front of 'em, waiting to load a story. Newsworthy or not.

Love the story (not) at the tail of my last post. Seriously who cares about a missing screw? I get the impression it was fixed. End of story. No drama.

Kind regards,

Geoff

[Ryan K]

Originally Posted by Andrew M

119 passengers......

Hmm, 199 passengers does not speak well of this route!

[BradR]

It would have been nice and comfy onboard.

As a 744ER, they could have fitted eveyone in First, Business and Y+ cabins and left Y cabin completely empty. Unless there is a lot of freight in the hold, this can't be a profitable service though maybe it's just a bad day.

Brad

[Kurt A]

SQ212 was the other Intl return, it also declared a local standby.

[Geoff W]

I AM going to stop giving credibility to these news stories now.

Seriously, this lawyer and his alleged QF explanation is REAL poor I believe.

Not withstanding his alleged quotes about a smooth landing.

I am happy to concede it wouldnt be fun if you were in the situation. I am sure a fuel dump SEEMS like ages. I am sure it does to the flight crew also.

But gee (again) I get a real feel for comment for comments sake AGAIN.


I hope the wedding isnt Sat BUE time, QF will end up in a deeper hole. I have experienced this in a 24 hour delay from MEL to LAX a couple of years back, some fellow pax were going from MQL to ORD to a wedding, there was NO way they were going to make ORD on time, they werent happy BIG TIME. At least we were safe as a result of the delay and we were very well looked after in the 24 hour period. Suggest you dont ask the MQL people about that but!


Kind regards,

Geoff


From "The Age"

* Smoke coming out of control panel
* Electrics not working
* Fuel dumped from wings

A Qantas plane en route to Argentina has been forced to return to Sydney after an electrical problem led to smoke in the cockpit, the fifth in-flight or pre-flight incident since an engine failure on a Singapore-bound A380 flight 11 days ago.

QF17, which took off from Sydney Airport at 11.11am today with 199 passengers on board, turned back about an hour into the flight to Buenos Aires, a Qantas spokeswoman said.

A friend of one of the passengers said the pilot announced there was smoke coming from the instrument panel.

A Qantas spokesman confirmed an electrical problem had caused the smoke.

Passenger Teague Czislowski, a Sydney lawyer who says QF now stands for "Qantas f*** up", said fellow travellers became concerned when they noticed fuel coming out of the wings.

''About an hour into the flight we suddenly did a 180-degree turn and you could see the wing section and while it looked like there was smoke coming out of it, it was actually the fuel dump taking place,'' he said.

Electrics out

''The first thing you noticed was then the electrics going out. There was no lights, no entertainment, only the emergency panels were on.''

Mr Czislowski said the flight then headed towards Sydney and circled Botany Bay for ''what seemed like ages so they could keep dumping fuel''.

He said passengers had not been told why there were returning.

''I have on my watch an altimeter and it had shown they had fully depressurised the cabin,'' he said.

''As we came into land you didn't hear the normal electrical sounds when they activate the landing gear but you could hear something, like they were manually doing it.

''We were pretty bloody concerned and they did tell us it would be all ok, but we weren't sure, there were no electrics and you really wondered whether they were flying the plane OK.''

The plane landed ''very smoothly'', Mr Czislowski said, but only then did passengers realise the ''seriousness of it all'.

Mr Czislowski, who was heading to Brazil for a wedding, said passengers celebrated and some even hissed once the flight landed.

Met by fire engines

''We were waiting on the tarmac and ... then we were met by all the fire engines and fire brigade, there were reams and reams of them, and then we realised something major must have happened,'' he said.

''We then pulled up and told to say in our seats and ... then the captain came through the cabin stopping at 10m intervals so people could hear.

''He explained that they took off and everything was fine, they finished their ascent and everything was fine and then smoke started coming out of their flight control at their panel up front and that's when they knew there was some problem.

''They then went straight into emergency proceedures and a series of tests.''

Touch down

The Boeing 747-400, with three flight and 18 cabin crew, touched down safely at Sydney Airport at 1.22pm after priority clearance to land was given by air traffic control, a Qantas spokesman said.

"Engineers are inspecting the aircraft to determine the cause of the issue. Passengers have disembarked into the terminal building," the spokesman said.

"Reports that the aircraft lost pressure in the main cabin are incorrect. Oxygen supply to the cabin was unaffected."

The spokesman said the incident was reported to the Civil Aviation Safety Authority and the Air Transport Safety Bureau.

"Qantas regrets the inconvenience to passengers and will seek to make contingency arrangements for those affected."

A replacement flight would leave Sydney at 5pm, the spokesman said.

[Daniel M]

Understandable that the media will report a QF air return and not an international seeing as it is our national carrier, but even still, whats next? A report on a QF flight running out of soft drink on board?

It's disgusting that such minor things such as a screw missing, and warning lights being activated (which are a extremely regular occurrence in RPT aircraft), are being reported and blown out of proportion. How are media outlets allowed to get away with this? Is the same degree of reporting evident in rail networks, cruise ships, buses?

[Robert S]

I like the sound of this watch which not only allows you to see that the cabin has depressurised, but also allows you to stay conscious to read this without the use of oxygen masks. I imagine it must be a James Bond-style arrangement, probably delivering oxygen intervenously through a needle on the underside.

Obviously that report is unreliable, but it does sound like a relatively serious electrical fault... I don't think we should be too quick to stomp on the media over that one. There are valid questions to be asked here, but, sure, it would be useful if the correct questions could be asked without the totally unnecessary cloud of BS.

Will be similarly interested to hear what the go is with SQ212.

[Sarah C]

Originally Posted by Daniel M

Understandable that the media will report a QF air return and not an international seeing as it is our national carrier, but even still, whats next? A report on a QF flight running out of soft drink on board?

Well after OJK, the Courier Mail reported a domestic flight that was 30 minutes late. And no, I am serious......