Door opens during Qantas flight

[Dave Noble]

A Qantas jet was forced to make an emergency landing at Adelaide airport last night after a door opened during a flight to Melbourne.

The incident came just three days after a hole was blasted in the fuselage of a Qantas 747 during an international flight to Melbourne, forcing it to land in Manila.

Full article at Door opens during Qantas flight - Travel - smh.com.au

Dave

 

[Saab34]

How the hell did the media get this one- damn you pax. The pax Wouldn't have been affected by this, or they would have no idea it has happened if there was no word from the Flight Deck. I just give up when I saw "Caused Cautic in the Cabin"Are they going to report every little problem now, what next, toilet wont flush?

 

[Dave Noble]

Gee , I don't know.

Maybe perhaps some passengers realised something was not right when the Adelaide - Melbourne flight came in to land at Adelaide. Perhaps also, the pilot gave the passengers a reason for the flight turning into a short scenic tour of Adelaide

Dave

 

[oz_mark]

"Qantas flight 692 operating between Adelaide and Melbourne performed a routine air turn-back shortly after take-off, due to an indication of one of the landing gear doors failing to retract," she said.

How does this turn into a "door opens mid-flight" headline?

 

[Mal]

How does this turn into a "door opens mid-flight" headline?

Because Australian newspapers have lost all journalistic credibility?

 

[Evan]

I guess its becuase they call it a landing gear door.. who knows.
That stuff happens all the time ! Even in my smal number of flights its happened twice to me i think... one was BA the other LH.
E

 

[serfty]

Clock radio fired up at 6am with the news:

"Qantas plane performs an emergency landing at Adelaide after a door opened during the flight, reports of Chaos".

SWHMO asked "what was that?" with a worried voice ..

I replied, not sure but it doesn't make sense since, doors cannot really open during a flight (as far as I know)!

Anyway, later on it all became clearer ... one or both of the nose wheel door(s) failed to retract after takeoff.

So NO door came open during a flight!

This will die a quick death methinx ...

 

[Flying Fox]

I have a question and I'm the first to say that I'm not a pilot or an engineer so I probably don't know what I'm talking about but here goes....

AFAIK, the only landing gear doors on a 737-800 are for the nose gear. And if one of these doors doesn't close but the landing gear secures correctly (this doesn't seem to be a safety issue), for a flight ADL - MEL why didn't the pilot simply fly onto MEL, land and get the issue resolved?

Its not as if returning to ADL would have gain the pilot anything. If the landing gear was faulty, landing in MEL or ADL would have the same outcome etc.

Landing in MEL would have lightened the aircraft for landing, get the passengers to where they wanted to go and I'm pretty sure that MEL would have more maintenance facilities than in ADL.

 

[serfty]

... AFAIK, the only landing gear doors on a 737-800 are for the nose gear. And if one of these doors doesn't close but the landing gear secures correctly (this doesn't seem to be a safety issue), for a flight ADL - MEL why didn't the pilot simply fly onto MEL, land and get the issue resolved? ...

... it was a 767-338 (VH-OGK).

With a nose-wheel door open the turbulence would prevent the aircraft from reaching optimum cruising speed; more than that, the buffeting would be pretty strong.

No, better to return and get it checked out.

FWIW, the aircraft in question is scheduled with a ferry flight to fly to MEL today as QF6112. Qantas are not too worried about the problem as it's expected to resume operations tomorrow with visits to BNE, SYD, MEL and PER.

 

[Batesy]

I have the pleasure each morning of having 7 (Sunrise), 9 (Today), 10 (early news), and Sky News on 4 different screens at the gym. Across my 40 minute workout I heard the plane referred to as a 737, 747, 767 and pictures of both a 737 (with winglets) and a 767. Looks like the news programs dont like getting facts, just running with the drama!!

 

[Travel Guru]

I have the pleasure each morning of having 7 (Sunrise), 9 (Today), 10 (early news), and Sky News on 4 different screens at the gym. Across my 40 minute workout I heard the plane referred to as a 737, 747, 767 and pictures of both a 737 (with winglets) and a 767. Looks like the news programs dont like getting facts, just running with the drama!!

Thats an all too common occurance these days and the reason I refuse to watch commercial news programs...you channel surf at 6pm each night any you'll hear "he was shot 15 times" on 7, "he was shot 32 times" on 9 and "he was stabbed 9 times" on 10...they just seem to make the facts up to suit themselves, they're a disgrace and should be ashamed to call themselves journalists.

TG

 

[Mal]

News Ltd have an interesting article:

Mid-air drama 'no emergency', says Qantas | NEWS.com.au

It includes a list of "Qantas Incidents" since March 1, 2006.

Qantas incidents

A list of safety issues aboard Qantas flights since March 1, 2006.

- 2006 March 8: Flight QF5, with 408 people on board travelling from Singapore to Frankfurt, is damaged by a blown tyre shortly after take-off.

- Oct 11: Qantas flight from Darwin to Brisbane flies with a burning cloth in the engine.

- 2007 Feb 3: A Los Angeles-bound Qantas airliner with flames jetting out of one engine is forced to return to Sydney airport after dumping fuel.

- March 21: Qantas internal safety review leaked, questions whether overseas maintenance meets company standards.

- May 3: QF26 en route to Auckland turned back to Los Angeles after a mid-air engine problem.

- July 8: Engine panel falls from QF415 upon landing at Melbourne.

- July 11: Tyre bursts on plane landing at Sydney domestic airport.

- July 18: The Australian newspaper reports staples were used to hold wiring in place on a 747-400.

- 2008 Jan 7: Boeing 747 carrying more than 300 people loses power while approaching Bangkok.

- Feb 20: Landing gear fails on flight from Gladstone to Rockhampton.

- March 25: QF12 carrying 232 passengers aborts a takeoff at Los Angeles.

- July 25: QF30 carrying forced to make an emergency landing at Manila airport after a mid-air explosion tore a car-sized hole in the fuselage. A oxygen cylinder is the suspected source.

 

[straitman]

Flying Fox,

With the undercarriage doors open the aircraft will have its speed restricted to a much lower speed. Probably in the vicinity of 150 +/- kts.

The reality is the pilots would have had an indication that the nose (if it was the nose) wheel was not up and locked. They would not know whether it was a faulty micro switch through to an actual undercarriage issue. (or what in between)

The normal procedure is to put the wheels down and then work out the best options from there. So long as the wheels are down there is no real danger.

 

[pauly7]

I have the pleasure each morning of having 7 (Sunrise), 9 (Today), 10 (early news), and Sky News on 4 different screens at the gym. Across my 40 minute workout I heard the plane referred to as a 737, 747, 767 and pictures of both a 737 (with winglets) and a 767. Looks like the news programs dont like getting facts, just running with the drama!!

I had exactly the same experience! On the radio they were actually reporting a 'POTENTIAL NEAR MISS' for 15 mins before they moved onto the slightly more accurate 'DOOR OPENS DURING FLIGHT' ?!?!:shock:

Australian media is quickly descending to the benchmark of cough - the US.

 

[drron]

I am one who has never had a healthy respect for the Australian media.In 1969 I was in Rabaul when the SMH reported a riot with Europeans locking themselves in their houses.In fact we were all out watching an orderly protest which was violently dispersed by police.
The current contoversy involving QF is proudly upholding their tradition of not letting the facts get in the way of a good story.I mean burst tyres.I for one am amazed it doesnt happen more often.
The underly facts are that when something does happen the QF crews respond in textbook fashion.

 

[holdenvxman]

How the hell did the media get this one- damn you pax. The pax Wouldn't have been affected by this, or they would have no idea it has happened if there was no word from the Flight Deck. I just give up when I saw "Caused Cautic in the Cabin"Are they going to report every little problem now, what next, toilet wont flush?

I think the toilets not flushing would be more of a reason to land lol :mrgreen:

 

[Flying Fox]

Flying Fox,

With the undercarriage doors open the aircraft will have its speed restricted to a much lower speed. Probably in the vicinity of 150 +/- kts.

The reality is the pilots would have had an indication that the nose (if it was the nose) wheel was not up and locked. They would not know whether it was a faulty micro switch through to an actual undercarriage issue. (or what in between)

The normal procedure is to put the wheels down and then work out the best options from there. So long as the wheels are down there is no real danger.

OK thanks for the explaination. Makes sense and the pilot's reasoning is clear to me now.

 

[Maca44]

From a safety aspect, I would be more concerned if the nose wheel door/s would 'not' open rather than remained opened after take off.