QATAR Jet Plunges 9000m

[Metro man]

Qatar jet in dramatic landing (http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/World/Story/STIStory_334709.html)

Qatar jet in dramatic landing
Qatar plane makes emergency landing in China: state media
BEIJING - A QATAR Airways flight made an emergency landing in northwest China on Thursday after suffering mechanical problems, Chinese state media said.

The plane was flying from Osaka in Japan to Qatar when it plunged 9,000 metres (30,000 feet) in the space of just five minutes, the Xinhua news agency reported, adding all 174 passengers and 20 crew were unharmed.

It landed at an airport in China's Xinjiang autonomous region, the report said.

The passengers were taken to nearby hotels and the airline is sending another plane to allow them to continue their journey, Xinhua said. -- AFP

[A300Man]

Twenty crew???? When did QR start A380 services from KIX?

Well done to those who were involved and coasted the event.

[Wizofoz]

(30,000 feet) in the space of just five minutes

The Maths is a bit rusty, but that sounds like 6000ft/m.

Idle Thrust with the breaks out, but hardly "Plunging!!"

[A300Man]

This was obviously a 332 machine. Does anyone know which specific aircraft it was?

[Capt Krunch]

A300Man

yes 20 crew (which includes 1 Capt and 3 F/O's), a heavy crew is required for the nearly 14hr trip from KIX to DOH.
they did a very good job.
Reg. -ACE


Wizofoz

6000fpm is the best you'll get out of a A332.

Poisoned by Compromise
Krunch

[A300Man]

Krunch, I apologise and stand corrected! Fully understand the crew complement after your explanation.

Charlie-Echo: nice plane. First in the QR fleet with the blue cabin lights and recently repainted with the big burgundy animal on the tail!!!! I have fond memories of that aircraft. I am glad she and the 20 jumpseaters and overall load are safe and well.

Apologies again for my immaturity in the post above.

[White Knight]

Capt Krunch - just what lowly speed do you guys cruise your 332s at???? Having flown countless KIX-DXB sectors I can tell you that even against the winter westerlies I've had longest airbourne of 11:17 - and Doha is not 2:45 past Dubai is it????

And 16 cabin crew in 332??? Bit over the top by the sounds of it..... We only have 14 in a 345 on a 15 hours sector..

[Capt Krunch]

White Knight

well first off, I did say Up To 14hrs and in winter ( the only time we use heavy crew on that sector) it can easily be a 13hr plus flight.
yes 16 crew in the back, 12 is normal operation and in order to let everyone have 3 hours rest, the return complement is increased by 4.

for commercial purposes QA require a certain min crew to be awake and active in the pax cabin for in flight pax service and comfort.

agree or not white night.. winter return crew for KIX-DOH is 20. and yes it take a long time to get here.

if I'm not mistaken I believe EK services KIX with a B777 not a Airbus, that would make allot of difference in time due to the vast difference in cruz Mach.

Poisoned by Compromise.
Krunch

[grizzled]

A380-800: My thoughts exactly! Though the crew complement and cruising Machs may be of interest, we are drawn to this thread by a headline that indicates a fairly major event -- then nothing more!

I need a Pprune Ppunching bag . . .

Grizz

[PositiveRate876]

EK uses A345 to KIX, although that changes to a B77W later this year.

I'm not sure what CI QR uses, but the other day we had to take a lower level to pass a QR 330 that couldn't go faster than M.80 at FL390.

[loc22550]

Remind me a Qantas incident a few month back..when an A/C suffering a computer problem plunges from the sky..Or maybe "just" a pressurization problem..unless both pilots fell asleep on the stick maybe:}:)

[fatbus]

13 -14 hrs in a 332, what kind of a payload you got?

[framer]

heh heh....you guys are funny, Grizzled will be reeaal grizzled soon.
You are doing it on purpose aye?

[homesick rae]

The Peninsula On-line: Qatar's leading English Daily (http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=Local_News&subsection=Qatar+News&month=February2009&file=Local_News2009020635641.xml)

[Khaosai]

Hi,

its never good having a pressurisation problem in any airspace, but that Northern sector is fairly demanding.

Rgds.

[Qatari515]

With as a purpose to reduce the amount of mumbojumbo being spread into the world here (I know, its a gossip forum but a forum which can potentially damage the airline by sending the wrong message out)

Capt Krunch is mostly correct on all he said...

A7-ACE

Suffered from a serious bleed problem, first bleed number one followed by number two.

Aircraft descended as per drift down procedure. O2 masks deployed.

Landed safely in KHG. Crew and passengers OK.

Tekstbook descent, decision making and handling of the failure. Thumbs up for the entire crew!

All in all a non-event in the end. Pax are all on the way now to their destinations. Handled by QR very professionally in terms of HOTAC etc.

Only people with worries now are AIRBUS, trying to solve the mystery!


Those are the facts....satisfied?

[homesick rae]

QR 515,

As always, to the point. Thank you.

I applaud you!

Cheers

HR

[White Knight]

Thread drift - to Capt Krunch

At EK it's been 340-500 for the last few years to KIX, it was 777 briefly before that, and 330-200 originally. (777 starts again in March '09)

Even against the strongest winter winds I've only seen 11:30 airbourne to DXB from KIX and with DOH jst a few miles further I don't see how you at Goat Airways manage to make KIX-DOH last nearly 14 hours:confused::confused: Or do you have a CI of -200?

Maybe you guys are so worried about upsetting your CSDs that you go the wrong way:}:}

[Capt Krunch]

White Knight

regardless of your personal analogy of the flight, QA commonly fly CI of anywhere from 8 to 40, depending on that particular sector.
from my own personal experience I have flown that sector at 13hrs 27min. in winter winds.
during summer schedule the DOH-KIX route is not operated with a heavy crew.
QCAA regs permit only 25% of a scheduled flight to run into problems with duty hours, after which an adjustments must be made to stabilize that trend. thus heavy crew on DOH - KIX during winter ops.

Poisoned by Compromise
Krunch

[shneidertrophy]

White knight,


I would not make too much fun about an airline which one day might be your homestead, looking at the way things are shaping up in Dubai! That typical EK snobbery of yours seems a bit out of place if you ask me!

Personally I have seen 13h45min on a sector back from KIX to DOH, flying variable cost (Average speed M0.79) index. Ok, this was due to exceptionally strong headwinds but it happens in winter time!

So nothing to do with the CSD's!:ugh::suspect:

[White Knight]

Oh dear children - you're really very touchy aren't you;) And just how do you see things shaping up in DXB whilst you're living in Doha:confused:

2 airlines you wouldn't see me at - Ryanair and Goat:E

[QTRminator]

How come you claim to know the flighttimes of our sectors whilst you're flying with EK?

[White Knight]

I don't claim to KNOW the times big boy!! I'm just surprised that it takes nearly 14 hours to fly from KIX-DOH in the winter, when I'm blocking 11:40 from KIX-DXB (and I've done the flight probably 20 times, and in 332,343 and 345).. As I say DOH is not 2 hours west of DXB.. Well - it wasn't when I went there the other night.. And what a quiet quaint little airfield you've got over there:p

Wow are you guys touchy or what? As I said you're probably so worried that the CSD's going to report for not wearing your hat when you go for a piss that you miss the airways:} (See 2 other current threads regarding Goat and your illustrious leaders:bored:)

[QTRminator]

What a drift, why don't you start a thread on "KIX-Gulf flighttimes", were everyone interested can share there experiences and then you can be the judge if they sound reasonable or not?:bored:
We have our share of problems here at QR and from the looks of it there are some people with attitude in EK as well with whom I wouldn't want to work with.

[A300Man]

Grow up everyone. This thread is about a particular incident involving a QR aircraft. It was not created to enable another spat between EK and QR.

[flyhigh7078]

If the acft was ACE, it has only 13 cabin jumpseats...:uhoh:! This acft is pretty known for having technical issues.. hope all well wz crew

[Wiley]

Aircraft descended as per drift down procedureHe drifted down... at 6000 feet per minute??!!! That's a rather unique drift down procedure.

Back to serious mode, that's one sector where I really hope I never have do do a high dive. There are some serously high hills not very far under the keel for far longer than is comfortable. Ignorance is bliss - at least on the night return, you can't see 'em. (Although the view on a clear day is about as spekky as views get.)

And EK cabin crew will be green with envy to learn that Qatar cabin crew carry extra cabin crew to give them all three hours rest.

[Thazright]

A330 Driftdown with a dual bleed (pressurization) problem? Driftdown by definition means slow and deliberate. Pressurization issues require a more rapid descent (5000'/min or more). Kudos to the crew for what? Accomplishing a normal day at work?! Get real. It's expected of them. Thats why they earn a salary. As for Airbus, they have yet to solve the mystery of building a decent cost effective airliner. :E

[EGGW]

Children, play nice or the thread gets binned :cool:

EGGW

[Emma Gemma]

How is cabin crew rest done on KIX-DOH with A330? Sealed off seats? When I was there we never had any rest onboard, probably because we never had such long trips, and I wouldn't think that there are any bunks as on the A340-600 and and B777-300?