Fromt The Australian newspaper: Missing oxygen cylinder (not?) in Qantas plane
Missing oxygen cylinder in Qantas plane
July 27, 2008
AN oxygen cylinder is missing from the Qantas 747 jumbo that was forced to make an emergency landing after a mid-air explosion punched a hole in its fuselage.
The Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) is investigating whether an exploding oxygen container was responsible for ripping a jagged hole in the fuselage of flight QF30 from London to Melbourne last Friday.
The Boeing 747-400 was cruising at 8800 metres with 346 passengers aboard when it was shaken by the blast.
But the aircraft managed to land safely minutes later at Manila airport, leaving passengers and crew unhurt but badly shaken.
"It is too early to say whether this was the cause of the explosion," Neville Blyth from the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) told a media briefing in Manila this afternoon.
"But one of the cylinders which provides back up oxygen is missing."
Mr Blyth told the conference investigators had found no sign a bomb caused the hole.
"There is no evidence of a security related event here," he said.
"Philippine bomb sniffing dogs have inspected the baggage and found no materials of concern."
CASA spokesman Peter Gibson earlier today discounted a report that corrosion was to blame, but the issue of corrosion in general would be investigated.
Mr Blyth said the investigation would take two to three days and a full report on the findings "should be released in two to three months."
With AFP