ETD473 21/11/13

[C206driver]

Anyone know details of Etihad emerg return to land Brisbane today? A330-200

[CaptainEmad]

At 0346,

ETD473 "BN dep, Etihad 473"
JQ818 "Ah, Jetstar 818, somebody's just over the top of you..." "Say again"
BN replies

JQ818 "7000 jetstar 818"

ETD473 "Etihad 473, Mayday mayday mayday, we would like to request a hold over BAABA. We lost our airspeed"

They then went and held over a waypoint. Cant quite hear the name of it.

[aussie027]

No idea but the media have made a pigs breakfast of it already to get the "news" out there.:ugh:

Plane makes mayday call at Brisbane Airport, sparking emergency situation | News.com.au (http://www.news.com.au/national/queensland/plane-makes-mayday-call-at-brisbane-airport-sparking-emergency-situation/story-fnii5v6w-1226765362348)

Apparently a Mayday declared but Etihad spokesman said no danger and just a normal return after a systems problem.

Some real facts will come out later today/tomorrow no doubt.

[CaptainEmad]

I had a listen to the transmissions, wrote them down and posted it.
Didnt get past the mods the first time.

Anyway,

It went a little like this...

ETD473 "BN departures, Etihad 473"
JQ818 "ah, somebody over the top of you"
JQ818 "7000 Jetstar 818"
ETD473 "Mayday mayday mayday, Etihad 473, we would like to request a hold over BAABA. We lost our airspeed."

They then went and held at another waypoint, can't quite hear the name.

[VH-FTS]

I heard it was EFATO, or something closely related. Plenty of emergency vehicles on standby - it wasn't just a return to land following a minor issue.

EDIT: news sites are saying 'flight deck instrument failure'. Knowing the A330 well, I think it could have been the thronometer. It's bad news if one of these fails, it's lucky all 450 people on board survived.

[SilverSleuth]

CaptainEmad wrote:
I had a listen to the transmissions, wrote them down and posted it.

Do you have a link to the audio?

[1Charlie]

The aircraft earlier had a rejected takeoff with an airspeed indicator problem. It taxied back to the gate, then had another crack about an hr later where it got airborne and declared a mayday. Returned for an overweight landing safely.

[tuck]

Ah, the Brisbane bugs/wasp propensity for building nests in pitot probes very quickly. Happened before to 330's in Brisbane even on a 90 minute turn.

All conjecture of course, will leave it to the experts both in the ether and on the ground.

[Ken Borough]

Murdoch's media is excelling, yet again! The Daily Telecr@p has this story:

No Cookies | thetelegraph.com.au (http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/national/plane-makes-mayday-call-at-brisbane-airport-sparking-emergency-situation/story-fnii5v71-1226765362348)

They show the A330 but describe it as an A380. Does EY operate A380s?

[Capn Bloggs]

Press overreaction not unexpected if Mayday declared because of loss of dials...

[Going Nowhere]

http://archive-server.liveatc.net/ybbn/YBBN6-Nov-21-2013-0330Z.mp3

Scroll forward to about 16:00 mins in. You can only hear the pilot side though

[Fliegenmong]

A 'Pan Pan Pan' perhaps not more appropriate in hindsight? 20/20 and all that...maybe a loss of dials is a mayday (No alt pitot / redundancy sys. on 330?) Earlier RTO due faulty indications.....evidently not adequately rectified...?

[RENURPP]

Murdoch's media is excelling, yet again! The Daily Telecr@p has this story:

No Cookies | thetelegraph.com.au

They show the A330 but describe it as an A380. Does EY operate A380s?
From what I can see the mention of an A380 in one part of the article is the only error in the article.

The fact the crew made a MAYDAY call would make this statement a little doubtful... The crew must have believed there was some danger.
Etihad Airways communications manager Stephen Mahoney said: “At no time was the aircraft or the passengers in any danger .

[Conductor]

I recall being told that in other parts of the world a PAN call is not always understood or treated with the appropriate urgency and therefore consideration should be given to making a mayday. Perhaps this may have had some effect here?

[Fliegenmong]

May well be the reason 'Conductor'....am I allowed to say that perhaps English is not his first language without unduly upsetting anyone? :hmm:

[Captain Dart]

When I left Australia, the Galapagos Islands of aviation standards, I found out that the correct terminology for an emergency, not distress, condition is 'PANPAN' said three times.

'Declaring an emergency' does the job in the rest of the world as well.

Sounds like the crew did good.

[mcgrath50]

When I left Australia, the Galapagos Islands of aviation standards, I found out that the correct terminology for an emergency, not distress, condition is 'PANPAN' said three times.

What did you think it was before leaving Australia? :E

[Captain Dart]

Everyone, in the military at least, said PAN PAN PAN.

[Mach E Avelli]

On occasions I have had to return to land or divert for everything from failure to pressurize to total loss of electrics to precautionary engine shut downs (several of). Usually I just told ATC we were returning/diverting and left the details out. Mainly so the anorak-spotter mob on the fence with their VHF scanners wouldn't spill a scoop to the Press. At most, I would state that we had a fault that required maintenance action.

The only time I ever got as far as a 'pan' call was once on a ferry flight when we lost two out of four in a Viscount due to fuel contamination and wanted to use a nearby aerodrome which was not on our flight clearance. It still did not warrant a 'mayday' because we were in no immediate danger.
A pan can always be escalated to a mayday if things get worse.

But we live in a new arse-covering age, where it may well be that a company SOP dictates a pan call at any time a technical difficulty arises that requires an off-schedule landing. The SOP may further stipulate a mayday for loss of primary instruments or an engine failure, or maybe if a passenger is taken ill. In simulator exercises a pan usually comes as part of any engine failure or emergency descent practice. But I have certainly had simulator instructors want to hear maydays for fire warnings, even if the drill extinguishes same. Some even want it for engine failure, which to me is a bit of overkill, because where is the "imminent danger or life-threatening situation" which is supposed to be the trigger for a mayday call?

No doubt the Etihad crew were only doing as they had been told.

The little boy who cried wolf comes to mind.......

[NeoFit]

It seems that some data are availlable here (http://fr.flightaware.com/live/flight/ETD473/history/20131121/0155Z/YBBN/WSSS/tracklog)