directX
8th Dec 2008, 07:55
Bit of a non-event reported in the Sydney Morning Herald today - those journos are reading here!
"A Qantas jet that got bogged at Sydney airport is the latest in a series of mishaps to dog the Australian airline.
Maintenance workers took a shortcut while towing an aircraft along a taxiway on Friday, which landed it in trouble, according to a number of witnesses' accounts on the professional pilot rumour network website http://www.pprune.org (http://www.pprune.org/)
The Airbus A330, laden with fuel but not carrying passengers, was due to fly to Tokyo, but because of the mishap the flight was cancelled.
Qantas confirmed the incident saying a towbar holding the aircraft to the truck had failed and two of the jet's wheels went onto the grass beside the taxiway.
"Obviously it is a fairly unusual incident," a Qantas spokesman told AAP.
"It was all resolved relatively quickly - there were no passengers on it, there was no inconvenience to any passengers."
After being pulled out the plane returned to operations within 12 hours, he said.
It is understood a safety advisory note, called a NOTAM (notice to airmen) - which alerts pilots to changes at airports and in airspace - was issued about some changes to the taxiway.
Emergency vehicles were seen surrounding the jet.
One observer told the pprune website: "(It) looked hilarious, all the orange safety car lights going off around it."
It has been a tough few months for the flying kangaroo, including a mid-air incident over Western Australia, an exploding oxygen tank blowing a hole in the fuselage on an international flight, security screening breaches and a number of maintenance incidents."
"A Qantas jet that got bogged at Sydney airport is the latest in a series of mishaps to dog the Australian airline.
Maintenance workers took a shortcut while towing an aircraft along a taxiway on Friday, which landed it in trouble, according to a number of witnesses' accounts on the professional pilot rumour network website http://www.pprune.org (http://www.pprune.org/)
The Airbus A330, laden with fuel but not carrying passengers, was due to fly to Tokyo, but because of the mishap the flight was cancelled.
Qantas confirmed the incident saying a towbar holding the aircraft to the truck had failed and two of the jet's wheels went onto the grass beside the taxiway.
"Obviously it is a fairly unusual incident," a Qantas spokesman told AAP.
"It was all resolved relatively quickly - there were no passengers on it, there was no inconvenience to any passengers."
After being pulled out the plane returned to operations within 12 hours, he said.
It is understood a safety advisory note, called a NOTAM (notice to airmen) - which alerts pilots to changes at airports and in airspace - was issued about some changes to the taxiway.
Emergency vehicles were seen surrounding the jet.
One observer told the pprune website: "(It) looked hilarious, all the orange safety car lights going off around it."
It has been a tough few months for the flying kangaroo, including a mid-air incident over Western Australia, an exploding oxygen tank blowing a hole in the fuselage on an international flight, security screening breaches and a number of maintenance incidents."