In my uneducated opinion, the press is perfectly legitimate calling any IFSD with a partial containment failure an "Explosion". Yeah, an IFSD is a "non-issue", but a partial containment failure makes it a non-issue with issues.
The crew only ended up calling panpanpan at 073712Z, when they finished dumping, so calling it an "Emergency Return" is a bit of a stretch, but permissible in the US (where, apparently, such expressions have no meaning).
(and that makes it 231 SOB and 72 T after dumping)
Oh, and check out this bit of fun:
ZOA (072310Z): Qantas 74, we're in communications with your Dispatch now and they're uh wondering if you know the reason for the engine failure at this time.
QA74 (072317Z): Uh Qantas uh 74 uh, look uh that sort of information — we don't know the reason, the exact reason, and uh tell Dispatch that we're not in a position to pass that sort of information at this stage.
ZOA (072330Z): Qantas 74, wilco.
(kudos to both parties for their professionalism, here and in the whole exchange. Both parties operated at a level of precision beyond what was necessary, even for a non-event)
Other fun facts from the tapes:
The QA74 crew, in addition to declaring SOB and fuel left, tried to declare to Approach that they had no hazmat on board. After three attempts, they gave up.
note: the ATC clips (from tower to landing; although the nerds could extract from Clearance delivery to Tower, if there were a point) are now available at
Live ATC. Enjoy and