Flightsimman

Greetings,

News article from the News Online website "www.news.com.au"

A QANTAS flight plunged 20,000 feet after a door 'popped' mid-flight, passengers are reporting.

The plane has just made an emergency landing in the Philippines following reports that a door "popped", causing depressurisation, during a flight between London and Melbourne.

Qantas is refusing to confirm the incident, but passengers who have called Herald Sun Online say oxygen masks dropped from the ceiling during the incident.

Others said the plane suddenly plunged from 30,000 feet to 10,000 feet.

One passenger reported the pilot did 'an amazing job' of controlling the craft.

Flight QF 30 was due to arrive in Melbourne around 10pm tonight.

It was one hour from Hong Kong when the incident occured.

The plane is now on the tarmac at Manila airport with all passengers - the majority of them Australians - on board.

Romeo India Xray

Proving nothing other than sensational journalism is not confined to the northern hemisphere

I will check back later when some FACTS about the incident may have been posted.

Willoz269

Sounds like a pressure cabin problem handled "by the book"....people tend to think that the sight of oxy masks on descent is a sign of imminent death!

Buster Hyman

Just found out my Brother in Law was on that flight. I believe he's in a little bit of shock at the moment.

I'll see what I can find out.....

BREAKING NEWS: A QANTAS flight to Melbourne plunged 20,000 feet after a faulty door left a 'big gap' in the side of the plane.
The plane made an emergency landing in Manila around 1:20pm after a door 'popped' and caused an 'explosive' de-pressurisation during a flight between London and Melbourne.
Qantas is refusing to confirm the incident, but passengers who have called Herald Sun Online say oxygen masks dropped from the ceiling during the incident.
The plane is believed to have suddenly plunged from 30,000 feet to 10,000 feet.
Passenger Brendan McClements said there was a sudden 'gust of wind' through the plane.
''There was a degree of surprise - people questioning what it was,'' he said.
''There was a rush of wind as the air pressure came down. It got people's attention. It was then a matter of getting the masks on.''
Another passenger described how children burst into tears after a 'quick bang' reverberated throught the cabin. She said the plane plunged, but then stabilised after about five minutes.
Mr McClements, the chief executive of Victorian Major Events, praised the pilot and crew.
''The crew were terrific they did a great job. Everyone gave them a round of applause as we landed.''
Mr McClements said the faulty door was on the 'driver's side' of the plane, just before the wing. He said there was ''a big gap where the door used to be''.
He said other passengers seemed in ''resonably good spirits''.
Another passenger reported the masks fell from the ceiling, the plane "dropped suddenly" and there was a "fairly explosive" depressurisation.
One passenger reported the pilot did 'an amazing job' of controlling the craft.
Flight QF 30 was due to arrive in Melbourne around 10pm tonight.
It was one hour from Hong Kong when the incident occured.
The plane is currently on the tarmac at Manila airport with all passengers - the majority of them Australians - on board.
"Qantas can confirm Qantas flight 30 from Hong Kong to Melbourne has been diverted to Manila," a Qantas spokeswoman said.
"The aircraft is on the ground and being inspected as we speak."
The spokeswoman would not comment on the cause of the incident.
Sarah Wotherspoon, Mark Dunn, Matt Pinkney and Craig Binnie

My bold...for those who drive on the wrong side of the road, I think he means the right/starboard side of the aircraft...as you look forward.

Well done to the crew btw.

Mr YSSY

"Suddenly plunged" and "an amazing job of controlling the craft".

The day a journalist responds to a passenger comment like this with "and what leads you to believe that?" will be the day I'll walk through KSF international departures naked.

cambruzzo

Qantas plane makes emergency landing after undercarriage rupture

Posted 5 minutes ago
Updated 4 minutes ago
A Qantas 747 has made an emergency landing in the Philippines capital Manila because of a large rupture in the plane's undercarriage.
The plane was travelling from London to Hong Kong, and none of the passengers have been seriously injured.
Speaking from the Manila airport, Melbourne woman Dr June Kane says she heard a loud bang from underneath the plane, and saw debris fly through the cabin.
"I'm looking at the plane now and on the left hand side, just forward of the wing, there's a gaping hole from the wing to the underbody," she said.
"It's about two metres by four metres and there's baggage hanging out so you assume that there's a few bags that may have gone missing."

THIS IS FROM ABC.NET.AU

Flightsimman

These journo's don't understand that the "plunge" probably saved some lives!

Still though I think it's only a matter of time until "QF's" luck runs out (especially when they want to out-source everything).

I just hope I am not on one when it does happen.

OliV2

Let's just wait and see people.....a bit too early to start the standard QF beating . The press reports are pretty poor at the moment. I don't think anyone can glean the truth from the crap that has been posted so far.

priapism

Yes ,

Despite the normal ordinary journalism -for the "Joe Average" fare paying punter , who has no idea about the procedure for decompression , this would have been a terrifying experience.

This is another significant incident for Q.F.

I can't wait for the photos of the damage to come out - I bet the Q.F spin doctors will do their best to limit photograhic exposure of the damage which, by early accounts will look rather bad.

You reap what you sew Q.F - I hope this bites the bean counters at Q.F hard on the arse.

Buster Hyman

Too late priaprism!

Ok, B.I.L. has sent me a photo, but I can't upload from my phone. Not a great picture, but from what I can see, the fairing at the wing root (starboard) looks like it has gone. As in, not there. The photo is taken front on, but from what I can see, the fwd cargo door appears to be in place, so if anyone has a better understanding of what is in that vicinity...

(For the record, B.I.L. was formerly a FSO...not prone to hysterical rantings in the press)

EDIT:Can't recall how large that panel is but after zooming in on the image, it looks like the missing section actually goes underneath the area as well.

RAD_ALT_ALIVE

Does anyone know the registration of the aircraft? I wonder if it was one of the three ugly sisters? (QF bought three used B744s a few years ago from two different asian carriers - and they've often been referred to as that...)

The comment about bags seen hanging out is a bit concerning.

Well done to the crew.

Buster Hyman

Non hysterical passenger quote:

"Probably looks worse than it is but, when you see the roof of the galley collapse with a loud bang...you tend not to have happy thoughts"

HotDog

If the FWD Cargo door is intact, as Buster says; it sounds like a pneumatic duct rupture near the cross over duct. I don't think you can blame this on the bean counters though.

gchriste

Source: www.smh.com.au:

Melbourne passenger Sarah Lucas she was shocked to see a gash of between 1.8 and 2.4 metres where the wing intersects plane's fusellage.
Ms Lucas, who was flying with her 19-year-old sister Olivia, said she had believed a door had opened mid-flight until she saw the torn metal.

"We were in the business class cabin and we heard a loud bang. We thought one of the doors had become open because there was a lot of papers rushing through the cabin ... it felt like a gush of wind," Ms Lucas said.

Buster Hyman

If someone can upload images & PM's me an Aussie mobile fone nbr, I'll forward this piccy to them.

OliV2

So in the cargo hold? Could explain the "gust of wind" described by one passenger as the vents kicked in. This is going to be an interesting one. The "plunge" from 30k to 10k ft that the news reports are focussing on is just SOP for a decomp. so is hardly the point.

gchriste

Of course it is SOP, but it is never good PR. The pilots followed the SOP and did a good job by the sounds of it, but unfortuantly one wonders what the SOP contains for the spin doctors in this situation

pacplyer

Stellar reporting as usual.

Thank goodness the bags are O.K. It didn't work out so good for Aloha. Yep. Sucked one right out the roof......

HALFPINT

+61 424 175 003 - i'll email them to you

Mech-prentice

I'm told it was OJK. Tech Log is unavailable online: "Restricted".

My favourite eyewitness statement so far is that the hole is "on the driver's side".