Originally Posted by
VHOED191006
4 mechanical issues within the span of 3 days should be concerning, no?
No, because it's a media beat up or pile on. The same media that thought the vent exposed when the thrust reverser cascade slid back was a 'hole in the engine'.
As for the 'smoke in cabin' FFS, seen it so many times it's tedious. At Ansett, at TAA/Australian and at Qantas. Odds on it's a small piece of food from a previous sector that has spilled out over the tray and onto the oven interior. Of course it needs to be checked out, but is likely something minor like that. Next flight, it's burned a little bit in the oven causing a smoke smell and a burning smell.
FFS people, sometimes these things come in 3-4 incidents (if you can even call them that).
I remember well, a week in the 'old' days when a 747 left Melbourne after a 4 hour delay, passengers p-ssed off then a Flight Attendant opened a bottle of champagne and the metal foil hit him in the eyeball. Diversion to SYD. The same week we had a 767 turn back due to an oil pressure warning (they were new at the time) and two other delays, one a 7 hour delay that required an engine to be practically pulled apart to replace a 20c o-ring. On that occasion I believe, they didn't have a part so they went to Clarke Rubber in Niddrie and bought a bunch of rings. Sent the data sheet to P&W who approved its use. Around the same week I believe, a canoe fairing cracked and 'fell off' a 747 landing in SFO.
No one was screaming that Qantas was unsafe or that it was the end of the world. In those days the media had more than clicks and aircraft delays to worry about.
So, let's have someone go back and grill John Menadue about what he was going to do about it back then.