Qantas review after door opens in flight
"The Australian"
Qantas review after door opens in flight
By Steve Creedy
October 22, 2002
QANTAS has reviewed its maintenance procedures after a flight attendant and passenger were forced to grab a door that was opening on a jumbo jet during landing.
Paper was sucked under the door as the passenger and crew member wrestled a handle back into the locked position on a flight from Cairns to Nagoya, Japan, in April.
The flight attendant kept weight on the handle until the aircraft landed and taxied to the terminal, according to an Australian Transport Safety Bureau report released yesterday.
The same door subsequently experienced a second problem - with the handle again moving into the unlocked position - three flights after being adjusted by maintenance engineers.
An inspection found the force needed to move the handle was less than required and further adjustments were needed.
The aircraft flew twice more without incident before returning to its main base, where the door was stripped down.
The inspection found no defects and the door was refitted to the aircraft.
A Qantas spokeswoman said last night that the airline had upgraded its door rigging procedures. "Basically what happened before, where situations like this happened, the door was rerigged in situ, on the aircraft," she said.
"Under the enhanced procedures, the door will be removed from the aircraft, rerigged in the workshop and then fitted to the aircraft."
The Australian
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