Emergency Qantas landing?

[oz_mark]

Qantas plunge jet had computer &squo;irregularity&squo; say investigators | Herald Sun

AIR safety investigators have found an "irregularity" in the computer controls of a Qantas plane that plunged up to 2000m over WA.
The report comes as the Qantas chief pilot defended the crew's flying after a 2000m plunge over WA skies yesterday left 20 people seriously hurt.

 

[maninblack]

Understand the concern, but would that require a Mayday to be called?

A Mayday call can be made when an aircraft or person is in grave and imminent danger and requires immediate assistance. The pilot would have made an assessment that some people on board required immediate medical attention. Whether actual damage to the aircraft was of concern will come out in the inquiry. Otherwise he would have called a Pan-Pan emergency. He may have also chosen the first opportunity to land the aircraft to alleviate passenger panic etc. I believe the incident occurred with the aircraft nearly 3 hours from Perth but only 30 minutes from Learmonth. The health and safety of the passengers will always be first priority. The Mayday call was probably after discussion with Perth ATC. I doubt he just got on the blower and started yelling "MAYDAY"

Learmonth is the standard alternate airport for Asia-Perth flights and has been used on quite a number of occasions. It is fully equipped to handle wide bodied aircraft and has a 10,000ft runway, HIAL and HIRL etc. It is not just some remote airstrip as some media have implied.

 

[vitaminp]

It is not just some remote airstrip as some media have implied.

From some of the media reports you would think the pilot had a tattered copy of the country UBD, flicking through it for the longest straight bit of highway he could find.

In seriousness, the investigation will be an interesting one if the incident was caused by something other than (or in conjunction with) CAT.

 

[serfty]

Some more here:

more detail below with direct quotes from ATSB

By Ray Brindal
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

CANBERRA (Dow Jones)--A Qantas Airways Ltd. (QAN.AU) plane involved in a midair
incident over Western Australia state experienced an irregularity in its onboard computer
equipment that left the plane flying "of its own accord", an aviation safety
official said Wednesday.
Qantas, Australia's largest carrier, has reported about 40 people sustained
injuries Tuesday on board the Airbus A330-300 flight to Perth from Singapore.
Julian Walsh, director of aviation safety at the Australian Transport Safety Bureau,
said an on-board electronic centralized aircraft monitoring system indicated there was
"some irregularity with the elevator control system" of the aircraft.
The aircraft departed its normal flight at 37,000 feet, climbed 300 feet, "then as
the crew were responding, the aircraft pitched down quite suddenly and rapidly," he
said.
"Certainly, there was a period of time when the aircraft performed of its own
accord," Walsh said.
The crew declared an early stage "pan pan" alert almost straight away, then
around 3-4 minutes later they upgraded that to a "mayday" alert, which
indicates an urgent situation with a need for absolute priority, he said.
The aircraft, built in 2003 and operated by Qantas since, made an emergency landing
about 1.30 p.m. local time, at a remote airfield at Learmonth, an Australian defense
force bare air base, near Exmouth, in Western Australia state, 1100 kilometers northeast
of Perth.
Walsh said the alert upgrade could have occurred after the crew assessed the injuries
to passengers at the back of the aircraft and the importance of diverting the flight.
"Whether the pilots were in complete control of the aircraft or not is a very hard
thing for me to say at this early time. Obviously, until we get the flight data recorder
and the coughpit voice recorder and we can actually look at the history of the flight, we
won't really understand exactly what has happened during the event," he said.
Qantas, which is known as one of the world's safest airlines, has suffered a
string of mechanical incidents in recent months, with air safety investigators announcing
in August a review of the carrier after other incidents.
Walsh said he didn't want to rule anything in or out in terms of the cause of this
latest incident.
While the crew referred to some "flight control computer issues," it is
important to look at the environmental conditions as well, as often these things can
interact, he said.
The bureau will look at all aspects of the operation of the aircraft including its
maintenance history to identify what could have led to this incident, he said.

 

[markis10]

A mayday call was the most approriate IMHO, it would have automatically resulted in the appropriate responses being put in place including emergency services notificaton, clearance of airspace and extra resources being rolled out, it would have also alerted military authorities who may have had assets in the area given the aerodrome is a dormant RAAF base.

 

[oz_mark]

Update from Qantas
About Qantas - Media Room - Media Releases

Qantas said today that the cause of the sudden change in altitude aboard QF72 from Singapore to Perth yesterday remained under investigation.
The Chief Executive Officer of Qantas, Mr Geoff Dixon, said Qantas was assisting the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) in its formal investigation.
Mr Dixon said the aircraft's flight data and coughpit voice recorders had been removed and would undergo assessment.
"As always we will cooperate fully with the ATSB, as well as conducting our own investigation into the incident.
"Our primary concern remains the welfare of our passengers and crew on board the flight, and we are focused on doing everything possible to assist them," Mr Dixon said.
He said that passenger and crew information available to date indicated that:
* injuries ranged from abrasions and contusions to fractures;
* the condition of 14 of those on board was considered serious, requiring medical evacuation to Perth by the Royal Flying Doctor Service, although none of the injuries was life threatening;
* up to 30 additional people required attendance at hospital in Perth;
* up to 30 further passengers and crew required first aid treatment for minor conditions;
* all passengers requiring travel to Perth had been accommodated on two special flights arranged by Qantas yesterday evening; and
* the majority of passengers on board was Australian (131), followed by British (53), Indian (40) and Singaporean (38).
"We are grateful for the assistance of the Royal Flying Doctor Service and Skywest who came to the assistance of our passengers and crew in this remote location.
"We would also like to acknowledge the offers of assistance that we received from CareFlight, Woodside Energy, the RAAF and others in the area."
Mr Dixon said information available on the flight at this stage included:
* the incident occurred 80 miles north of Learmonth, which is a joint user airforce base;
* the incident occurred at a cruising altitude of 37,000 feet;
* the aircraft climbed approximately 300 feet before the nose dropped momentarily; and
* the flight crew declared an emergency and diverted to Learmonth, which was the closest suitable diversion airfield.
He said the A330-300 aircraft remained in Learmonth where the ATSB and Qantas were conducting investigations and assessments.
Mr Dixon said Qantas would be contacting every person on board the flight to ensure
continued assistance was offered to all passengers and crew.
"We commend the professionalism of our crew, who ensured the aircraft landed safely in Learmonth."

 

[NM]

Media report - Computer error behind Qantas dive

Computer error behind Qantas dive

A COMPUTER glitch caused a Qantas jet to climb before nose diving over Western Australia, injuring dozens of passengers, air safety investigators say.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) today said an "irregularity'' in one of the plane's computers caused the dramatic altitude change yesterday that hurled passengers around the cabin.

This would imply a serious issue for Airbus and potentially all operators of A330 aircraft. I would not expect Qantas maintenance or operations could be responsible. It will be interesting to see if this theory is confirmed as the cause and how Airbus responds.

 

[jaffa]

Compensation Announced

QANTAS announced tonight on ABC TV news, compensation to effected passengers on yesterdays Air Incident.

1/ All passengers will recieve a full refund on purchased tickets and costs incurred for onward travel to final destination.

2/ All passengers will recieve a QANTAS travel voucher to the value of a one-way Lon-Syd flight or equivilent amount in purchased class of travel.

3/ Any out of pocket expenses including emergency medical will be covered.

I think this is a very generous compensation package, suprising really! compared to what l have seen QANTAS offer in the past.

It makes me wonder why.

 

[Mal]

Re: Compensation Announced

2/ All passengers will recieve a QANTAS travel voucher to the value of a one-way Lon-Syd flight or equivilent amount in purchased class of travel.

Is that because they expect the next trip by the passengers to be one way?

(Yeah, I know... not really appropriate).

Perhaps it's inspired by Qantas wanting positive media coverage. Perhaps it has something to do with a Private Member's bill that is being introduced to Federal Parliament about compensation.

 

[jaffa]

Ahhh, is that why?.

Qantas have never been that generous in the past, and it did make me wonder why the change of attitude.

I thought they might be finally reacting to all the negative publicity, but still l found it rather generous.

Perhaps all the negativity is finally opening the purse strings and we will see a major move to increase customer satisfaction.

It is long overdue.

This has all got to be hurting them to a reasonable degree.

 

[straitman]

Re: Compensation Announced

It makes me wonder why.

I'd suspect that it's nothing more than to be seen in a positive light for a change compared to all the negative publicity they have had lately. :idea:

 

[docjames]

Or perhaps if you accept the compensation package you cant sue them (condition of acceptance).....

 

[NM]

Re: Compensation Announced

Perhaps it's inspired by Qantas wanting positive media coverage. Perhaps it has something to do with a Private Member's bill that is being introduced to Federal Parliament about compensation.

Or perhaps they expect Airbus to pay out if the problem turns out to be theirs.

 

[Mal]

The Courier-mail has a gallery of photos of the damage inside the plane:

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/gallery/0,23816,5035038-952-1,00.html

 

[munitalP]

Well, now it's started...

A feeding frenzy for the desk jockey media of Australia - straight from news.com Computer error behind Qantas dive | NEWS.com.au

The same plane had a fuel pump reset at Changi last month - plagued by mechanical problem (yep, no s)....

Hope my 743 today is in better shap and isn't plagued by mechanical problem...

Mr!

 

[bravoecho1]

Captain is a close family friend of mine and I spoke to him yesterday. I am not going to print verbatim what happened however will say that he described a horrific event that no aircrew/passenger ever want to experience.

 

[oz_mark]

Captain is a close family friend of mine and I spoke to him yesterday. I am not going to print verbatim what happened however will say that reports of computer failure are correct and that he described a horrific event that no aircrew/passenger ever want to experience.

I imagine it would have been, if the plane was off doing its own thing in a rapid downward direction.

 

[Flying Fox]

In a new twist, pax using laptops are being questioned.

Laptop probe in Qantas plunge

Q. So what were you doing with your laptop at the time of the incident?

A. I was tapping into the flight control systems and went crazy with my mouse.

Sounds like they are clutching at straws here!

 

[markis10]

I will be carefull of using the down key in future airborne use of my laptop.

 

[serfty]

In a new twist, pax using laptops are being questioned.

Laptop probe in Qantas plunge

Q. So what were you doing with your laptop at the time of the incident?

A. I was tapping into the flight control systems and went crazy with my mouse.

Sounds like they are clutching at straws here!

A more realistc version ...

...

Q. So what were you doing with your laptop at the time of the incident?

A. I was tapping into the flight control systems and went crazy with my mouse.
A. Nothing, it was up in my overhead locker and I was reading a book.

Q. What Book?

A. War & Peace - damn I've lost it in the kerfuffle ...

...