Incident on QF130 last month

[Mattg]

Crikey is reporting an incident on QF130 from Shanghai to Sydney last month which I haven't seen covered in the press yet at all. Apparently the plane had to return to Shanghai due to a hydraulic failure after take-off. According to Crikey, the plane sat on the runway for 21 minutes after landing, waiting for fire services. I don't know how much of this is true, but it sounds pretty bad if so.

Here's a link to and extract from the Crikey post: https://blogs.crikey.com.au/planetalking/2016/10/07/qantas-emergency-shanghai-not-atsb-site-yet/

PVG ground control had 1 hour’s notice of the emergency landing while the aircraft circled in the area as the crew completed checklists, released the gear via a manual procedure and communicated with Qantas. Despite this, fire services arrived at the aircraft 21 MINUTES AFTER TOUCHDOWN. The aircraft remained on the active runway during this time, unable to taxi off due to lack of front wheel steering. Crew repeated their requests for fire services whilst ready to evacuate passengers. With no emergency support nearby, any early warning of a fire would have been difficult to obtain, as the control tower was approx. 1km away and visibility extremely poor due to the prevailing typhoon and being night time. It appears the torrential rain was the only factor fortuitously preventing fire to the fuel-laden jet.
This information is sourced directly from one of the crew. I believe the 3 pilots handled the situation up to the usual Qantas standard. However Shanghai airport has a lot to answer for, putting people’s lives at risk. Its lack of response could have been criminal.

And here's the Aviation Herald's take on the incident: Incident: Qantas A333 at Shanghai on Sep 15th 2016, hydraulic failure

 

[drron]

I note the Aviation herald has the plane heading for Canada.

 

[jb747]

I expect they had to ask for a tug. I can't see any reason for fire services. Hydraulics failure isn't all that big a deal.