QF121 Issue today

[Darren Butterworth]

Just listening to 2GB and they stated that the flight to Shanghai is returning to YSSY, unable to retract its gear.

Anyone know anything else?

Daz

[Darren Butterworth]

Just heard there was no issue on landing, so probably more a pain than anything.

Anyone know which AC and what the issue was?

[Philip Argy]

Here's the online report from about 1.40 pm:

Qantas plane turns back with faulty landing gear

A Qantas plane bound for China is returning to Sydney because of a problem with its landing gear.
The airline says the pilot discovered the gear would not retract after take-off and decided to cancel the journey to Shanghai as a precaution.
Qantas says the problem will not require an emergency landing.
The plane carrying 197 passengers is expected to touch down shortly after 2pm AEDT.

[Sarah C]

To add to the "drama", Channel 9 had "breaking news" showing it on the runway, saying there was an 'emergency' at Sydney Airport. It is stationary at the end of 16R at the moment, the helicopters are circling for pictures, it really isn't that exciting.

Rego is VH-EBG.

[Nigel C]

There was a Jetstar A330 do the same during the spotting weekend (surprised it wasn't mentioned here...). On that occasion it had a gear tilt sensor break on take-off, so the aircraft thought it was still on the ground and wouldn't retract the gear.

Perhaps this is the same sort of problem?

[Stephen Brown]

The airline says the pilot discovered the gear would not retract after take-off and decided to cancel the journey to Shanghai as a precaution.

Would have been a bloody slow trip to China if had decided to keep going.

[Philip Argy]

And the fuel may not have lasted the distance either!

Whilst I applaud Qantas' candour in announcing these things as they occur, sometimes I think it might be better to wait a couple of hours till the aircraft has returned and simply announce it very matter of factly as a normal run of the mill issue that crops up periodically.

The 'Emergency landing' headline is really not warranted unless there is at least a PAN PAN call. Of course here there was nothing of the sort and, so far as I am aware, no suggestion that the gear was not locked down for landing.

[Brian Noldt]

The aircraft shown on Nine's news break is VH-EBG

Brian

[Mike C]

I was wondering why QF129 was circling NOBAR for over an hour on PP.

[Nigel C]

Originally Posted by Philip Argy

The 'Emergency landing' headline is really not warranted unless there is at least a PAN PAN call. Of course here there was nothing of the sort and, so far as I am aware, no suggestion that the gear was not locked down for landing.

How do you know there was no call? There is nothing here to suggest otherwise.

Also, the fact that the aircraft landed nearly an hour after your quote that says Qantas advised an emergency landing wasn't required doesn't mean the situation didn't then escalate.
It would also seem strange that the aircraft appeared to require towing off the runway if there was no major problem...