BrissySparkyCoit
5th Jun 2009, 13:47
Qantas hit with 15 safety notices
By Steve Creedy
The Australian
June 05, 2009 08:24am
A DETAILED regulatory review of the way Qantas maintains individual aircraft has resulted in about 15 requests for corrective action.
The Civil Aviation Safety Authority undertook the "tail audit" in the wake of a series of incidents that included a mid-air oxygen bottle explosion that blew a hole in the side of jumbo jet and a computer glitch that sent an Airbus jet on wild ride over Western Australia, reports The Australian (http://m.theaustralian.com.au/fi39114.htm).
Neither of those problems looks set to be the airline's fault but they prompted an embarrassing maintenance review that last year found Qantas was not meeting its own performance benchmarks and warned it needed to take action to head off potential safety problems.
Problems included the management structure of Qantas engineering as well as the accountability and control of its engineering and maintenance program.
CASA deputy chief executive operations Mick Quinn told a Senate estimates hearing that the more detailed follow-up review had involved looking at individual planes in the Boeing 737, 767 and 747 fleets.
He said the review looked at all the airworthiness directives that had been applicable to them over their lives, what had been done, how the documentation had been maintained and whether they complied with requirements.
"During this process we identified a number of areas we believed required some attention and we have issued approximately 15 – I think 13 to date on a 737 and 767 – requests for corrective action," Mr Quinn said.
"These are areas – not critical safety areas of non-compliance – where CASA believe(s) the process needs some attention to detail."
Mr Quinn said he could not comment on how many requests for corrective action had been issued on the 747 because it was incomplete.
in particular...
Problems included the management structure of Qantas engineering....
Geez 'eh? Who would have thought?
By Steve Creedy
The Australian
June 05, 2009 08:24am
A DETAILED regulatory review of the way Qantas maintains individual aircraft has resulted in about 15 requests for corrective action.
The Civil Aviation Safety Authority undertook the "tail audit" in the wake of a series of incidents that included a mid-air oxygen bottle explosion that blew a hole in the side of jumbo jet and a computer glitch that sent an Airbus jet on wild ride over Western Australia, reports The Australian (http://m.theaustralian.com.au/fi39114.htm).
Neither of those problems looks set to be the airline's fault but they prompted an embarrassing maintenance review that last year found Qantas was not meeting its own performance benchmarks and warned it needed to take action to head off potential safety problems.
Problems included the management structure of Qantas engineering as well as the accountability and control of its engineering and maintenance program.
CASA deputy chief executive operations Mick Quinn told a Senate estimates hearing that the more detailed follow-up review had involved looking at individual planes in the Boeing 737, 767 and 747 fleets.
He said the review looked at all the airworthiness directives that had been applicable to them over their lives, what had been done, how the documentation had been maintained and whether they complied with requirements.
"During this process we identified a number of areas we believed required some attention and we have issued approximately 15 – I think 13 to date on a 737 and 767 – requests for corrective action," Mr Quinn said.
"These are areas – not critical safety areas of non-compliance – where CASA believe(s) the process needs some attention to detail."
Mr Quinn said he could not comment on how many requests for corrective action had been issued on the 747 because it was incomplete.
in particular...
Problems included the management structure of Qantas engineering....
Geez 'eh? Who would have thought?