QF93 diverted to SYD due to medical emergency 3 June

[TimB]

I'm currently on the ground in SYD on QF93, which was not long out of MEL when the call for doctors on board was made. Eventually they announced that we'd be diverting to SYD, and after dumping fuel, we landed around 12:10.

They hope to have us refueled and turned around in 1 hr 20 mins.

(I'll wait to see the No News coverage of this: "Qantas B717 jet makes emergency landing after 600 passengers fall ill" or something.)

 

[Robert K]

Is it another heart attack?

 

[TimB]

Is it another heart attack?

No idea - I don't think that's the sort of information they'd announce.

We're due to leave at 13:25 now, according to this: FlightAware > Qantas Airways (QF) #93 > 03/06/2011 > YSSY-KLAX Flight Tracker

 

[markis10]

Enjoy the extra time since you got an op-up :mrgreen:.

 

[docjames]

:shock: Didnt get far before diverting back. Probably good for the sick person.

 

[ozmille]

So the A380 took off from MEL at 1022 and landed in SYD at 1206 I thought I read somewhere that an A380 can't drop a massive amount of fuel so did they land over the max landing weight or did I get this wrong?

 

[Kendall Roy]

I wonder if QF have fuel "insurance" for this kinda of thing. That's a lot of gas to drop!

 

[Nigelinoz]

Thank goodness it was Qantas,Ryanair would probably send the fuel bill to the sick passenger:!:
Cheers
N'oz

 

[TonyHancock]

I hope whoever was taken ill is OK. I can't imagine anything worse than being taken ill on a flight, it must be a terrible experience.

This post is a little out of context now. Several posts around this have been removed from the thread, including the post this was a direct response to.

 

[bat21]

I hope whoever was taken ill is OK. I can't imagine anything worse than being taken ill on a flight, it must be a terrible experience.

I just hope that he'/she didn't recline their seat!

 

[TimB]

So the A380 took off from MEL at 1022 and landed in SYD at 1206 I thought I read somewhere that an A380 can't drop a massive amount of fuel so did they land over the max landing weight or did I get this wrong?

We spent about 30 minutes circling off the coast dumping fuel. We did take a while to slow down on landing, so it must have been at max landing weight, I guess.

Sadly, the extra time in J wasn't that great, as they cut short service to divert, and only provided a pack of nuts on the ground. But everything was back to normal after we got going again.

Late into LAX, so I (and others) missed connection. But managed to get another flight that should allow me to make my next connection, just.

 

[Robert K]

The industry needs to come up with a contraption so they can 'dump' fuel into a container that can then be retrieved later on. What a waste of fuel to have to dump into the sea. Must cost the airlines a lot of money!

 

[milehighclub]

I wonder if QF have fuel "insurance" for this kinda of thing. That's a lot of gas to drop!

Unfortunately Qantas has to pay for it. Weather and other natural disasters are also not covered as they are 'act of god'.

Obviously these things are not unexpected and are taken into consideration in budget planning.

Although 3 natural disasters in the space of a few months and the volcano last year has had a big impact on our profits as Qantas has to pay for it all.

 

[jb747]

So the A380 took off from MEL at 1022 and landed in SYD at 1206 I thought I read somewhere that an A380 can't drop a massive amount of fuel so did they land over the max landing weight or did I get this wrong?

No, you didn't get it wrong. The A380 can dump fuel to about 40 tonnes ABOVE max landing weight. Until recently, to land above MLW you had to have a declared emergency, but recently CASA modified the rules to allow medical events.