I can see why there's some confusion about the Qantas Ditching off Perth myth and why some people here vaguely recall it as a real incident.
This
thread on PPRuNe back in 2004 was probably the "myth" about such an incident. But then in 2006, there's an intriguing twist in that a similar incident to the myth actually did occur, whereby the crew conducted an autoland and landed below Cat 1 landing minima. The ATSB investigation report for that incident is
here.
What would have happened if the crew weren't successful with their last attempt at landing? They had 30 minutes of fuel left above their minimum fuel reserves. Would they have discussed the possibility of ditching in the event that their last approach attempt was not successful?
Which leads to the point of whether a
possible ditching incident off Perth is a myth or whether it actually did occur in 2006.