Just saw this on the Australian website.
QANTAS has grounded its Bombardier Q400 turboprop aircraft after inspections this morning found a problem with the undercarriage on some aircraft.
A Qantas spokeswoman this morning confirmed that seven Q400s operated by regional subsidiary Qantaslink were not operating while its maintenance staff conferred with the manufacturer in Canada.
The 70-seaters were first inspected last night after two accidents in Europe in recent days sparked a global alert that saw older versions of the turboprop grounded.
It is understood the Qantas problems were uncovered in a second wave of inspections undertaken after additional documentation arrived from Canada.
The European accidents, both involving Q400 aircraft operated by Scandinavia's SAS, saw the collapse of right main landing gear shortly after touchdown.
As a precautionary measure, Bombardier and Goodrich, the landing gear recommended that Q400s that had accumulated more than 10,000 cycles (a take-off and landing) by grounded until the landing gear could be inspected.
Qantas group general manager regional airlines Narendra Kumar said last night that the aircraft in Qantas's Q400 fleet had each accumulated less than 5000 landing cycles.
About 60 of the 160 Q400 aircraft delivered to airlines around the world have more than 10,000 landing gear cycles.
Good luck to the QFlink Q400 drivers who find themselves stuck all over the place!