QF94 Qantas wake turbulence incident

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juddles

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Not sure if the link works or this is already posted in another thread. It appears an A380 heading LAX to MEL sufferred a pretty severe "wake turbulence" incident. Pax describing nosedive or freefall for 10 seconds.

Interesting. Anyone know any more on this? Anyone hurt? Or just a storm in a tea cup? (sorry)
 
Eddie McGuire was on MMM radio in Melbourne this morning. About 10 seconds of wake turbulence, with the Pilots giving PA to pax fairly immediately explaining what had occurred. Seems it was in the wake of the A380 headed to SYD. Nil further issues during the flight.

Eddie's explanation was that it felt like a bit more than usual turbulence then all over in 10 seconds and not a concern and an immediate PA.

He implied the reporting has been somewhat hysterical......:confused:
 
Appears to be an over exaggeration of the situation according to Eddie on Today this morning ot was a little bit of unexpected bad turbulence for less than 10 seconds no nosedive as being reported more a turn to the left than anything else.

Eddie, as mentioned above, even said that there appears to be some over zealous reporting of the incident and indeed the turbulence on the way over was far worse.
 
Media love to report nose dives.

An aircraft that size flying along can’t suddenly go from a pitch of a few degrees up to a “full” nose dive in seconds and then recover to normal attitude a few seconds later.

FlightAware did not even register a significant drop in altitude assuming the event as reported occurred 2 hours into the flight.

I don’t even think it’s “over zealous” reporting, just reporting by journalists who are again uninformed and ignorant fed stories by some passengers who are the same.

Just a bit of turbulence unlike the Challenger encounter with an A380...
 
Not according to his roster postings in Ask The Pilot ,

In any case the ATSB is on to it but late so CVR and FDR would likely not be available?

ABC radio current affairs reporting tonight that the ATSB was notified of the incident within the required 72 hour timeframe, but are not investigating as no safety issue was identified.
 
Qantas responds: Qantas pilot defends A380 after turbulence drama

As a piece of PR I would have perhaps tackled it slightly differently. Telling people they 'do not understand' can come across as a bit confrontational (dismissive as in 'you just don't understand', or 'you're being irrational'). I would have acknowledged the feelings - 'turbulence can be frightening' - followed by the reassurance - 'but it needed be!'. And then provide the factual explanation and design elements of the aircraft to counter it (turbulence). Repeatedly telling people they don't understand can leave an overall negative impression. It's always hard to know how the words have been edited, but that's one of the things to look out for when giving a statement.
 
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I read it differently and thought the comments by the Chief Pilot was reasonable. Journalists though really should be a little more informed when they are reporting and think twice before doing it.
 
I read it differently and thought the comments by the Chief Pilot was reasonable. Journalists though really should be a little more informed when they are reporting and think twice before doing it.
But then they can't give the talking heads their 5 minutes.
 
It's interesting the the Chief Pilot has had to say anything..given that the event was a 'non event' anyway. I guess it just shows how the media and their click bait works.

The way they home in on the loudest, and generally least informed, for their quotes is indicative of the overall quality ....
 
jb747 - silly question.... is it possible to draft one plane behind another to save fuel - like cyclists do? Not passenger but maybe military fast jets to increase range?
 
jb747 - silly question.... is it possible to draft one plane behind another to save fuel - like cyclists do? Not passenger but maybe military fast jets to increase range?

Not the way cyclists do, but the way real birds do, yes. I recall someone did a study (I think the US airforce) and they obtained a % or two in fuel savings.
 
jb747 - silly question.... is it possible to draft one plane behind another to save fuel - like cyclists do? Not passenger but maybe military fast jets to increase range?

In theory perhaps, but I’d expect it would have to be military style, VERY close formation. You’d then end up using more fuel because the constant throttle and control inputs required would add up to a decrease in efficiency.
 
One of our suppliers was on board. He had food and a drink served and had his seat belt fastened. It was all over pretty quickly but things did get tossed around. He did say he was lifted up out of his seat but the seat belt held.
 
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Interestingly watching Air Crash Investigation on QF72 yesterday, now that was a major incident compared to this.

Perhaps the Journos should actually try flying once in a while.
 
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