Pilot injured as a result of Jetblast at Brisbane International

[737NG_Girl]

Pilot sent tumbling by Qantas jumbo's engine thrust (http://www.smh.com.au/travel/travel-incidents/pilot-sent-tumbling-by-qantas-jumbos-engine-thrust-20111019-1m8fr.html)

Pilot sent tumbling by Qantas jumbo's engine thrust
Matt O'Sullivan
October 20, 2011 - 10:54AM
A VIRGIN AUSTRALIA pilot has been badly injured after he was blown from stairs at the rear of a passenger jet by the engine thrust from a Qantas 747 jumbo, which was taxi-ing close to his plane.

Safety experts are looking into how the Qantas jumbo came close enough to the Boeing 737, which is operated by Virgin subsidiary Pacific Blue, to blow over the stairs on which the first officer was standing.

The pilot had been conducting pre-flight checks on the 737 passenger jet, which was parked at Brisbane Airport's international terminal, shortly before it was due to take off to Bali on Friday.

The first officer suffered a fractured arm and leg when the aluminium stairs were blown over by the force of the Qantas jumbo's engine blast. The 747 had been taxi-ing to a runway and was awaiting clearance from air traffic controllers to take off when the incident occurred.

The Qantas jumbo – QF8 – had stopped over in Brisbane to offload passengers while on its way to its final destination of Sydney. The jumbo's engines have stronger thrust than other aircraft because it is used to fly one of the longest routes in the world between Australia and Dallas, Texas.

A Virgin spokeswoman said the aluminium stairs to the 737 were blown over several times by the blast of the Qantas engines and the pilot's injuries could have been worse.

"Our plane was in the right place at the right time," she said. "The one dynamic which was different was the thrust level of the Qantas plane which caused the stairs to blow over."

But Qantas said its plane was "operating normally" under instructions from air traffic control and "at no stage" was excessive thrust used. The airline has reported the incident to the Australian Transport Safety Bureau.

Brisbane Airport said the Virgin aircraft was in its normal parking bay when the incident occurred and, although construction work is under way at the terminal, none was happening in the nearby vicinity. There had been a suggestion that construction work meant the Virgin aircraft was in a slightly different position.

[KRUSTY 34]

Ouch! Has anyone seen the video of the truck being blown over whilst driving behind a 747.

Ops manuals of jet aircraft are usually repleat with warnings of the dangers of thrust to nearby aircraft, machinery, people, etc...

Be interesting to see who ultimately carries the can. Hope the pilot makes a speedy recovery. Could quite as easily ended up in the Coroner's court! :uhoh:

[Buster Hyman]

Shouldn't be reading JetBlast whilst at work...

(Seriously though, get well soon mate.):ok:

[glekichi]

Yellow vest saves the day again..... erm :rolleyes:

[hewlett]

"The jumbo's engines have stronger thrust than other aircraft because it is used to fly one of the longest routes in the world between Australia and Dallas, Texas."

Give us a break, where do they get this stuff! Maybe using takeoff power to taxi as well.

[Keg]

There is potential to harm quite a number of passengers at the end of the Bravo pier in MEL too. Quite often we are taxing out when pax are boarding on the adjacent bay and we almost immediately turn north- up the hill- and point the engines directly at it. I've started to apply more thrust initially so that I'm at idle as I go around the corner and up the hill but it's an issue.

[Going Boeing]

Hewlett, there is an element of truth in that statement:
"The jumbo's engines have stronger thrust than other aircraft because it is used to fly one of the longest routes in the world between Australia and Dallas, Texas."

The six B747-400ER's (used on the DFW route) flown by Qantas have GE CF6 donks which put out approx 11,000 lbs thrust more that the RR donks on the standard B744's. The idle thrust setting is significantly higher on these GE's and causes pilots to use frequent brake applications to control the taxy speed.

I'd be interested if one of our engineers can explain why the GE idle setting needs to be so high.

[rocket66]

Bugger, sounds like a very unfortunate place to get hit by the blast. would this poor fella have suffered burns aswel?

[Capn Bloggs]

"Our plane was in the right place at the right time," she said.
I thought it would have to be wrong and right or right and wrong. If they were doing everything right and the poor guy still got bashed up, something's "wrong"!

[hewlett]

Thanks GB. Point taken, I stand corrected. Not likely to have been caused by idle thrust though, maybe breakaway or similiar trying to catch up on a late departure? Stand design may need some mods.

[blueloo]

Quite often we are taxing out when pax are boarding on the adjacent bay and we almost immediately turn north- up the hill- and point the engines directly at it. I've started to apply more thrust initially so that I'm at idle

I personally like to use at least 90% thrust here (more on a RR) as I try to blow the passengers back towards the QANTAS jets and discourage them from hopping on a Jetstar jet. So far i have only had limited success ...:8

[Capn Bloggs]

I personally like to use at least 90% thrust here
Measured on the thrust meter or rev counter, Blueloo?? :}

[nomorecatering]

It beggers belief. Ive seen them stand free in 60 kt winds and not even budge. If its the standard silver ones. They are sturdy buggers, Ive even seen them pushed sideways by a tug. The wheel track at the aircraft end is like 3m.

Will be an interesting report.

[SMOC]

Out of interest, what N1 do QF set prior to setting thrust on their GE powered -400s?

Ie we set 1.1 EPR on the Rolls and the Pratt and 45% N1 for GE, prior to pressing TOGA.

[Capn Bloggs]

like 3m
How do you mean?

[amos2]

Once again...lack of airmanship and situational awareness of you lot of Gen X and Gen Y pilots...and I use the term pilot, loosely!

[nitpicker330]

He means Wheel base

[mcgrath50]

If it was a QF bird, I would be almost certain there were no Gen Yers in the cockpit! Most accounts say Gen Y starts after 1990. Don't think there has been much recruitment for people in this age range at the rat recently!

[blueloo]

Measured on the thrust meter or rev counter, Blueloo??

I should correct myself. 90% arm extension. The stage just before "Givin it sum" :}

[gobbledock]

Could have been worse. It could have been the ****ter truck blown over and the Pilot covered in 'post lunch deposits'.

[Capt Fathom]

I have to ask....

How is it that a set of steps at the rear door of a 737 gets blown over, without causing any damage to the 737?

[piston broke again]

Pretty sure gen Y is 1980 onward....

[neville_nobody]

How is it that a set of steps at the rear door of a 737 gets blown over, without causing any damage to the 737?

Quite possible that they got blown away from the aircraft and landed behind the wing. Alternatively the aircraft could have sustained minor damaged that just didn't make it in the news. I'm sure if the stairs demolished the trailing edge there would have been photos out by now.

[nomorecatering]

Nitpicker,

I do mean track, ir the distance between wheels on the same axle. Aircraft end is about 3m+ (3 very large paces), the other end has a track of almost 2 m, and a wheelbase of god would be close to 4 m. I dont know what the exact weight is but wopuld estimate in the several hundred kilos. I know that from pushing them around for 5 years. You also have 2 foot brakes that lift the botom step end wheels off the ground to prevent them roling away.

Quite simply, it would take a force 5 cyclone to tople them.

Now, theres allways the chance that these steps (aussie made i believe) have been replaced by cheaper imports thats are not as stable.

[Buster Hyman]

How is it that a set of steps at the rear door of a 737 gets blown over, without causing any damage to the 737?
Have you seen how some of those stairs get parked? Some would be lucky to cast a shadow on the fuselage!

[A Comfy Chair]

How about that the Virgin spokesperson said that the stairs had been blown over several times?

If this was a known problem...

[wtfia]

The way I read that, the Virgin spokesperson is stating that the stairs were moved or blown over several times in this one incident. Sounds ugly.

[C441]

...Not likely to have been caused by idle thrust though, maybe breakaway or similiar trying to catch up on a late departure?...

I'd be very surprised if it was more than idle thrust.
On the ER at 412T, the aircraft will roll away on a level surface at idle.
This aircraft would have been around the 230-250T mark and you'd be trying to slow the bugger down not trying to speed it up.

[hewlett]

Interesting observation by" freightdoggiedog " this topic in "rumours and news":). Lucky it wasn't a seal. Speedy recovery to the FO.

[SMOC]

On the ER at 412T, the aircraft will roll away on a level surface at idle.
This aircraft would have been around the 230-250T mark and you'd be trying to slow the bugger down not trying to speed it up.

Exactly the same issue for the -400ERF and P&W engines, even with 3 engines running at 280-300t the thing gets up to 30kts with idle.

[Bolty McBolt]

The six B747-400ER's (used on the DFW route) flown by Qantas have GE CF6 donks which put out approx 11,000 lbs thrust more that the RR donks on the standard B744's. The idle thrust setting is significantly higher on these GE's and causes pilots to use frequent brake applications to control the taxy speed.

I'd be interested if one of our engineers can explain why the GE idle setting needs to be so high

Flaps out during taxi?
If memory serves (and it often doesn't) the CF6 powered 744.
Engines to flight idle when flaps away from up.
Different to RR powered 744.
I will try find a refference in the Schematic manual..

[IAW]

On the news last night they said it happened while the Pilot was inspecting the engine, hence it may have actually been a maintenance stand rather than stairs???

[GAFA]

It was the rear stairs.

[Checkboard]

View of the international terminal on the left, with the C9 holding point at the edge of the apron just before the parallel B taxiway, the B9 holding point before the parallel A taxiway, and the A9 holding point before runway 01 at Brisbane:

http://i665.photobucket.com/albums/vv20/Checkboard/Brisbaneairport.jpg