Smoke fills cabin before plane dumps fuel in Port Phillip Bay

[samh004]

And a DC-3 ? who owns that ? wonder what it is used for.

E

Looks like it could be this one, VH-ABR

 

[Evan]

Looks like it could be this one, VH-ABR

Good spot, didn't even think to look for the reg and find a history.
Looks like the old girl had a hard life, lots of accidents. But still is flying.
Interesting history. Does go to show how the old ones can be kept flying.
E

 

[samh004]

Good spot, didn't even think to look for the reg and find a history.
Looks like the old girl had a hard life, lots of accidents. But still is flying.
Interesting history. Does go to show how the old ones can be kept flying.
E

Just because it's parked there doesn't mean it can actually fly

 

[Evan]

Just because it's parked there doesn't mean it can actually fly

Now that is pesemistic
Of course she will fly, just strap some JATO's to the back and it will get going once again i am sure Actually the 727 could have had factory JATO's from Boeing.

 

[NM]

Looks like it could be this one, VH-ABR

yes, its operated by Ansett Historical Aviation Group and makes the occasional appearance at air shows, such as at Avalon in 2007.

 

[medhead]

Re: Emirates jet close to major 'aviation disaster'

Yes, thats the same incident. (sorry accident as its being called now for a good reason) I still cant understand (more i am amazed rather than not understanding) how they lifted off the runway at the end and traveled 100+ meters at a height of only about 50-70cms.

E

Nothing suggests that the lowest point of the aircraft was at a height of only 50-70 cms when hitting the antenna. All that has been stated is that the antenna broke 50 cm from the bottom. This suggests to me that this was the weak point of the antenna that could have been struck at any height.

 

[Evan]

Re: Emirates jet close to major 'aviation disaster'

Nothing suggests that the lowest point of the aircraft was at a height of only 50-70 cms when hitting the antenna. All that has been stated is that the antenna broke 50 cm from the bottom. This suggests to me that this was the weak point of the antenna that could have been struck at any height.

Opps, just me mis-reading
That makes a lot more sense, still it was really low !

 

[medhead]

Re: Emirates jet close to major 'aviation disaster'

Opps, just me mis-reading
That makes a lot more sense, still it was really low !

Yeah it was really low.

Sorry if the post sounded like a superior correction, i didn't mean it that way. Just that a lot of the media reports seem to be focusing on missing by 50 cm, which I think is confusing and ignores basic common sense to get a good story.

 

[NM]

Re: Emirates jet close to major 'aviation disaster'

Yeah it was really low.

Sorry if the post sounded like a superior correction, i didn't mean it that way. Just that a lot of the media reports seem to be focusing on missing by 50 cm, which I think is confusing and ignores basic common sense to get a good story.

and how tall was the antenna that was broken off 50cm above the ground? And how high off the ground was the strobe light that was also reported to have been damaged?

 

[oz_mark]

Re: Emirates jet close to major 'aviation disaster'

Nothing suggests that the lowest point of the aircraft was at a height of only 50-70 cms when hitting the antenna. All that has been stated is that the antenna broke 50 cm from the bottom. This suggests to me that this was the weak point of the antenna that could have been struck at any height.

To get some perspective regarding the strobe light it took out:

"The height of the runway strobe lights is 0.7m above ground level," she said.

Emirates jet &squo;close to crashing&squo; in Melbourne | Herald Sun

 

[Nigelinoz]

Re: Emirates jet close to major 'aviation disaster'

and how tall was the antenna that was broken off 50cm above the ground? And how high off the ground was the strobe light that was also reported to have been damaged?

I have read somewhere that the ILS structure is 150cms high,don't know about the strobe lights.

 

[NM]

The last two posts would indicate that it was closer to 50cm than 150cm off the ground at that point. Of course we don't know which part of the aircraft contacted the light(s) and the antenna - was it the undercarriage, tail section that scraped the runway etc.

 

[medhead]

Re: Emirates jet close to major 'aviation disaster'

and how tall was the antenna that was broken off 50cm above the ground? And how high off the ground was the strobe light that was also reported to have been damaged?

And how close is the strobe to the antenna? (in the direction of travel) It could have easily hit the 70cm strobe a some point closer to the end of the runway and then hit the 150 cm antenna further from the runway. I'm not sure that the strobe tells me anything about height at the point of hitting the antenna - based on what has been reported.

edit: Ok this is serious, I've pulled up my year 12 physics and maths. fence 2.44m @ 500m, antenna 1.5 m @ 300m, Strobe 0.5 m @ 170m

Assume that the lowest point hits the strobe at 0 m. (mainly for ease of calculation, lowest point clears the fence @ 2.5 m and that the aircraft is on a straight tragetory (i.e. constant lift). That means it hits the antenna @ 1m height (midway between 0.5 and 1.5 m). In fact, the geometry is the same anyway, so it hit the antenna at 1 m above the height that it hit the strobe.

The only problem is that it must have had accelerating lift.

 

[NM]

Re: Emirates jet close to major 'aviation disaster'

And how close is the strobe to the antenna? (in the direction of travel) It could have easily hit the 70cm strobe a some point closer to the end of the runway and then hit the 150 cm antenna further from the runway. I'm not sure that the strobe tells me anything about height at the point of hitting the antenna - based on what has been reported.

edit: Ok this is serious, I've pulled up my year 12 physics and maths. fence 2.44m @ 500m, antenna 1.5 m @ 300m, Strobe 0.5 m @ 170m

Assume that the lowest point hits the strobe at 0 m. (mainly for ease of calculation, lowest point clears the fence @ 2.5 m and that the aircraft is on a straight tragetory (i.e. constant lift). That means it hits the antenna @ 1m height (midway between 0.5 and 1.5 m). In fact, the geometry is the same anyway, so it hit the antenna at 1 m above the height that it hit the strobe.

The only problem is that it must have had accelerating lift.

Indeed this shows that it came really, really close to being the biggest aviation disaster ever in Australia.

 

[Nigelinoz]

Latest I hear,from a friend who works at Melbourne airport is that preliminary repairs are almost complete and the aircraft will be returning unpressurised to Touluse for final repairs,possibly as early as next week.

 

[Evan]

Latest I hear,from a friend who works at Melbourne airport is that preliminary repairs are almost complete and the aircraft will be returning unpressurised to Touluse for final repairs,possibly as early as next week.

Wow, that will be a long flight !
I wonder what route they will take, no high altitude chances i guess, well the pilots could be on o2, but how would they go with heating the coughpit ?

 

[oz_mark]

Wow, that will be a long flight !
I wonder what route they will take, no high altitude chances i guess, well the pilots could be on o2, but how would they go with heating the coughpit ?

I imagine a low altitude flight would make for an unusually expensive jet fuel bill!

 

[NM]

I imagine a low altitude flight would make for an unusually expensive jet fuel bill!

Compared with other costs associated with this event, I think that will not be a major issue. Obviously it would have been considered when making the decision on if and how to repair the aircraft. But either way, they would have been ferrying the aircraft back to Dubai anyway, so its an incremental cost for additional fuel costs for the low-altitude flight and routing and extra distance to France.

An otherwise empty, fully fuelled A340-500 could likely fly non-stop from Melbourne to Toulouse, but not sure how the unpressurised nature of the operation will affect routing and fuel burn.

 

[straitman]

I imagine a low altitude flight would make for an unusually expensive jet fuel bill!

Yes but the fuel bill, contrary to opinion, is only a small part of the operating cost of the aircraft.

 

[pauly7]

Here is an update...

Pretty scary (if accurate) no wonder Emirates are sending their top brass down under to try and calm the storm...

Pilot of Emirates flight that nearly crashed at Melbourne Airport was sleep-deprived | Travel News | News.com.au