Air New Zeland....another incident

[AViON calling!!]

As you have all probably heard Air New Zealand have suffered another incident upon departure, this time from Brisbane yesterday.

For those who dont know, the B767-200 departed BNE for AKL with 122 pax on board.

From passenger statements there was a loud bang after take off and one passenger described the scenario as thinking they had hit a smaller aircraft. The aircraft returned to BNE and landed safely without incident or injuries, although it may have been a hard landing. As the news is still relatively new, the latest is there was a catostrophic engine failure and it was appropriately shut down. Upon landing it was discovered part of the cowling was missing and there was major damage done to the engine.

So, my question is...what do the cabin crew do?

From passenger statements (and these are not my opinions, just what has ben broadcast on the news), the Purser had a look of horror on his/her face and set the scene in the cabin, not good but what would your reaction be? The pax were told to be ready for an emergeny landing. On approach the cabin crew shouted their brace commands, "Keep your heads down, Keep your heads down". The plane landed safely.

From statements the passengers thought they were going to die. They were screeming and some were treated for shock after landing.

As any incident in flight can be potentially dire. Were the cabin crew doing the correct thing by telling the pax to brace for an emergency landing?
Obviously this was a prepared emergency landing and the Captain thought it was necessary to prepare the cabin for such, but I know I have landed previously on one engine without incident and without knowledge, however maybe in different circunstances.

Was there potential for something worse to come out of this landing? Was it necessary to scare the pax? Did the Captain think this could progress from an emergency landing to a crash landing?

Personally, if my procedures required me to shout the brace comand I would.
As this is such an early incident I am keen to know your thoughts. Hopefully we will find out more about the situation in the cabin.

[Alpha Charlie Bravo]

There is nothing to indicate from your post that it was a prepared emergency landing. Indeed, if this incident occurred just following take off then it's very doubtful that the tech crew would have found time to advise the Purser to prepare the cabin and very doubtful that the cabin crew would have initiated contact with the tech crew while still in a critical phase of flight and hence, I'm assuming, the 'no contact' rule still applies.

Is this yet another case of cabin crew filling the gaps in the absence of hard fact and passing it off as gospel, a central reason as to why tech crew are inclined to question ALL flight critical information coming to the flight deck and the resultant degradation in good CRM between 'them' and 'us'.

In short, you've made some rather sweeping statements without backing them up with hard facts.

[TightSlot]

My employer has a procedure that we call a "precautionary landing". In essence, this boils down to an abnormal situation where the flight attendants are briefed but passengers are not. This attempts to fill in the gap between a full emergency with pax and cabin prepared, and no action at all. The decision as to the nature of the landing is the commanders on the day. We also have an alert call procedure to contact flight crew - We wait, they respond, when their workload permits. I had assumed that both procedures were industry-wide, but maybe not?

Although I am not a pilot, I know that engine failures come in different flavors and are not necessarily safety critical, even on big twins. Assuming that there is no subsequent fire or critical structural damage, engine failure in itself should not result in the loss of the aircraft. That said, I understand that an immediate landing would occur. I'm sure pilots will correct this statement if it is incorrect.

With regard to the other stuff - News reports often claim that crew look terrified: Passengers tend to project their own fears onto the neutral expressions of others. Likewise, passengers always scream and think they are going to die. They are treated for shock afterwards because some of them may actually be in shock, and doing this is preferable from a public relations perspective, to doing nothing.

Finally, I'm pleased to hear that -Personally, if my procedures required me to shout the brace comand I would It is your job to do so, that's why you are there. :confused: