Slow news day

[sleeve of wizard]

Incident: Qantas B763 near Mount Isa on Jan 29th 2012, smell of smoke in cockpit

By Simon Hradecky, created Sunday, Jan 29th 2012 14:16Z, last updated Sunday, Jan 29th 2012 14:34Z
A Qantas Boeing 767-300, registration VH-OGJ performing flight QF-825 from Darwin,NT to Brisbane,QL (Australia) with 170 passengers, was enroute near Mount Isa,QL when the crew reported smell of smoke in the cockpit and diverted to Mount Isa for a safe landing.

A replacement Boeing 737-800 registration VH-VZV has been dispatched from Brisbane to Mount Isa as flight QF-6160 and is estimated to reach Brisbane with a delay of 8 hours.

A passenger reported there were no stairs available at Mount Isa to serve the Boeing 767, hence a fork lift was used.

Mount Isa Airport reported emergency services found no trace of fire, heat or smoke. A wheel chair lift was used to help passengers down as there were no stairs available for a Boeing 767, that does not normally land in Mount Isa.

Courtesy of Av Herald

[RAD_ALT_ALIVE]

Why is this the result of a 'slow news day'?

Simon runs / hosts an outlet that only reports on incidents/accidents - he doesn't report general news / trash.

Even if it was reported by mainstream media, a B767 going into Mt Isa with smoke smell in the flightdeck is something that I'd say is newsworthy - simply from a public-interest perspective.

How often does a widebody land at that airport? Not very often judging by the fact that they don't appear to have suitable stairs.

And in 20 years of flying, I've never heard a real-time report over the radio of smoke (or smell of) in the cockpit while flying - so I guess it's relatively rare, and hence probably newsworthy from that viewpoint alone.

And I reckon it was a wise, solid decision by the crew to land at YBMA, so well done to them.:ok:

[Transition Layer]

At least they sent a brand new 737 with the Boeing Sky Interior and IFE to go and pick them up!

A leap forward from the 767 of about 20 years or so! :rolleyes:

[TIMA9X]

and the story appears front page smh today,
http://images.smh.com.au/2012/01/30/2924645/art-Plane-420x0.jpg

A forklift is used to remove passengers from a plane forced to make an emergency landing in Mount Isa. Photo: Neil Ratley of The Mount Isa Star North West Star

A Qantas jet was forced divert to Mount Isa Airport in north-west Queensland last night after cabin crew noticed the smell of fumes on board.
The Boeing 767 carrying 161 passengers was en route from Darwin to Brisbane when the decision was made to divert the aircraft to Mount Isa Airport.

Flight QF 825 landed without incident but it took emergency crew more than an hour to evacuate passengers from the grounded plane.


Passenger Cliff Watkins from Darwin said passengers were informed they would have to remain on board the aircraft because there were no stairs tall enough to reach the cabin door at the regional airport.

"They had to arrange a fork-lift to be hoisted up with a cage that could hold about four or five people at a time," he said.
"It is probably a good thing they didn't have to get everyone off in a hurry otherwise they would have had to use the emergency slides.

"Women with young children and anyone who felt unwell were asked to go to the head of the queue once ground staff had found a way to get us out."
While there was obvious frustration from some passengers, many praised the calm and professional nature of the staff who dealt with the unexpected situation.

A female passenger, who did not want her name published, said she was travelling with her young daughter and it appeared the situation was under control from the moment the captain made the decision to re-route the plane.
"I think everyone on board was calm and accepted that it was better to be safe," she said.

Passenger Carl Hannin said the ground crew “did a terrific job” in removing the passengers from the plane.
“A two-tonne forklift and a cage; five passengers at a time,” Mr Hannin told the 612 ABC.

“I think we sat there for an hour and then they realised they didn’t have air stairs that would fit the aircraft, so they improvised with a fork lift.”
Mr Hannin said the passengers were “calm and good” during the process, if not disappointed at the delay.
The stranded passengers faced a four-hour wait at the Mount Isa Airport but eventually made it to their final destination after Qantas deployed a second aircraft from Brisbane.
The Boeing 767 remains grounded in Mount Isa this morning so engineers can assess the problem.

In a statement issued today, a Qantas spokesperson said: “Qantas flight QF825 Darwin to Brisbane diverted to Mt Isa as a safety precaution due to an odour being detected by cabin crew in the forward area of the cabin.
“The aircraft landed safely without incident.
“There was no emergency landing.

“At this stage nil defects have been found and the aircraft will be returning to Sydney this afternoon.”
Queensland Airports Limited, which owns the Mount Isa Airport, has so far declined to comment

Read more: Qantas Passengers Exit Via Forklift at Mount Isa after fumes detected (http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/travel/travel-incidents/forklift-used-to-remove-stranded-qantas-passengers-after-fumes-detected-20120130-1qomx.html#ixzz1ku1HPUkQ)


How dramatic..

[D.Lamination]

From memory, back in the 80's QF had B747 capable stairs prepositioned at all large but remote runways in Northern Australia.

They definitely had stairs at Tindal and Learmonth and I thought Isa as well. QF Engineers/mechanics used to swing by once a year to service them.

Are they still there? Gone due to cost cuts?

:sad:

[blueloo]

Apparently the stairs were sold to buy a sack of Potatoes.

[ejectx3]

And a magic bean

[NAMPS]

Apparently the stairs were sold to buy a sack of Potatoes.

For 30 pieces of silver.

[Long Bay Mauler]

Agreed....this is a newsworthy item,as big jets shouldn't be diverting to offline ports such as Isa if there is a problem.

Also, look at all the money we saved by not having a set of stairs in place. A real public relations coup, especially for the company supplying the forklift. No wonder the public has full respect for the big Q these days. :yuk:

We are so unprofessional,it just isn't laughable anymore.

[DirectAnywhere]

Expect the crew to get a slap on the wrist for not complying with all applicable OH+S legislation when deciding to use a forklift to get passengers off the aircraft.

Try to imagine, if you can, the ensuing ****fight if someone - heaven forbid - had fallen off the damned thing.

[prospector]

Oh for the good old days when having a smoke in the cockpit was not an unusual event. Never was a flight that had to divert because of the smell of smoke then.

[blueloo]

Try to imagine, if you can, the ensuing ****fight if someone - heaven forbid - had fallen off the damned thing.

Thats not a problem. Look at the pictures. All the staff are wearing fluro vests. Tick! ! Squashed on the ground - a fluro vest means its .. A -OK!

[j3pipercub]

Will happily stand corrected, but was pretty sure that is how they load all wheelchair passengers at the Isa. It is the wild west...

j3

[piston broke again]

(singing) "There is nothing like a crown...for picking up punters, and putting them down!"

[buttmonkey1]

all this for a stinky nappy in the fwd toilet? :rolleyes:

[Angle of Attack]

Yep the same forklift and platform are used for all wheelchair pax and elderly for all the QF 737 BNE - ISA flights that go there 2 or 3 times daily. Been using it for years! (the platform is not just placed on top of the forks btw, it is actually secured to it permanently)

[DirectAnywhere]

Yeah, I know it's a standard hi-lift but using it for one seated wheelchair pax who couldn't possibly fall over the side - check the height of the side rails in the image - compared with nearly 170 upright, perambulatory pax is a different kettle of fish (as far as the OH + S mafia will be concerned).

[SOPS]

and I have to ask..where is Oliva in all of this??? Seems to be hiding a bit these days:suspect:

[Capt Fathom]

Yeah, I know it's a standard hi-lift but using it for one seated wheelchair pax who couldn't possibly fall over the side - check the height of the side rails in the image - compared with nearly 170 upright, perambulatory pax is a different kettle of fish

check the height of the side rails in the image

Is the height of the side rails any different to a set of steps? :rolleyes:

People are very intuitive! They know when to hang on! :ugh:

[dom butt monkey]

news today qf spokeperson did not catch her name but sounded like livie...."not a major problem but also got a dig in about the strike action last year" well done you "bitch" ...but the aircraft did call "pan pan pan" if thats not a problem I dont know what is....good work by tech crew...if called by c/crew about smells or smoke they go into lock down....well done,but when the "smoke/stink" has settled.......sorry about that....and we find out that its not a major drama,now the finger pointing will start.....:rolleyes:

[Wally Mk2]

I say they paid for their tickets, they knew the risks I say let 'em jump off the plane!:)
Anyway where's 'GT' he'll get to the bottom of this & make that smelly nappy diversionary incident come up smelling like QF roses !:)
All jokes aside I reckon smelling anything that was out of the ordinary whilst in a plane up in the air means Land ASAP! Worry about the minor details when the park brake is set!





Wmk2

[SpannerTwister]

As I heard it, it was just a smell in one of the galleys!

ST

[Slasher]

In that way the 727 and DC9 were great - the Boeing had aft
airstairs and the 9 had both forward and aft. Landing out in
the boonies was never a problem unless your APU was crook
and there was no ACPU or battery cart or air.

[TIMA9X]

Apparently the stairs were sold to buy a sack of Potatoes.

and

Anyway where's 'GT' he'll get to the bottom of this & make that smelly nappy diversionary incident come up smelling like QF roses !http://images.ibsrv.net/ibsrv/res/src:www.pprune.org/get/images/smilies/smile.gif
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-S5H61Cntf2c/Tyyt0OzvjGI/AAAAAAAAAGg/w_pz4rhQx-g/s550/emergency-airstairs.jpg?gl=US
(singing) "There is nothing like a crown...for picking up punters, and putting them down!"

classic stuff

but

Wmk2 hit the nail on the head with

All jokes aside I reckon smelling anything that was out of the ordinary whilst in a plane up in the air means Land ASAP! Worry about the minor details when the park brake is set!
spot on!