Qantas plane lost contact
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Qantas plane lost contact
Just what is going on here?
Not one "plummet" or "I thought we would all die"!
This is not upholding the normal reporting standards.
Not one "plummet" or "I thought we would all die"!
This is not upholding the normal reporting standards.
Qantas plane lost contact
The Australian June 08, 2005
AVIATION authorities lost two-way contact with a Qantas plane for more than three hours after it left Sydney airport bound for Johannesburg.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) said today South African authorities tried to contact flight QF63 by all available communication links on May 29, but were unsuccessful.
"They were trying to talk by a satellite system and a component of that system had failed," aviation safety investigation deputy director, Alan Stray, said.
"They then tried to communicate with high-frequency radio, but it can be affected by solar activity and down in the deep south it can be more prevalent.
"It's believed that was happening in the high-frequency radio system, and they couldn't hear the controllers."
Mr Stray said flight controllers held no fears the plane had crashed.
"Alerts do go out when there is a break in two-way communication with aircraft, but as far as I'm aware it didn't get to a search phase," he said.
"From what I understand, the South African controllers could hear it and there wasn't that level of concern."
He said pilots were trained to navigate without communication, and would have continued to follow the last directions issued by the controller.
"The controller is aware that if they can't issue further instructions, they know the aircraft will continue to follow their instructions," he said.
The communication failure was reported to the ATSB.
The Australian June 08, 2005
AVIATION authorities lost two-way contact with a Qantas plane for more than three hours after it left Sydney airport bound for Johannesburg.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) said today South African authorities tried to contact flight QF63 by all available communication links on May 29, but were unsuccessful.
"They were trying to talk by a satellite system and a component of that system had failed," aviation safety investigation deputy director, Alan Stray, said.
"They then tried to communicate with high-frequency radio, but it can be affected by solar activity and down in the deep south it can be more prevalent.
"It's believed that was happening in the high-frequency radio system, and they couldn't hear the controllers."
Mr Stray said flight controllers held no fears the plane had crashed.
"Alerts do go out when there is a break in two-way communication with aircraft, but as far as I'm aware it didn't get to a search phase," he said.
"From what I understand, the South African controllers could hear it and there wasn't that level of concern."
He said pilots were trained to navigate without communication, and would have continued to follow the last directions issued by the controller.
"The controller is aware that if they can't issue further instructions, they know the aircraft will continue to follow their instructions," he said.
The communication failure was reported to the ATSB.
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South Africa is renown for Satellite blackspots. A fifth satellite has just been added to the aircrafts satcom communication system to alleviate this problem. It should not happen again.
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Good reporting again ???
but hang on a a minute......
may be there is a three way conversation facility.
AVIATION authorities lost two-way contact with a Qantas plane
From what I understand, the South African controllers could hear it and there wasn't that level of concern
Nunc est bibendum
Big deal. I had that happen about nine years ago on the 744 when we first did MEL-JNB!! Transmitting blind for about the same length of time but no one heard a thing.
Slow news day!
Slow news day!
Meh, so what.
Who here hasn't lost contact with Mumbai/Chennai for hours at a time?
I fly from KL to Dubai quite a lot and I reckon there'd be about a 20% chance of not getting them on any frequency.
Done a few trips across that have the west coast of India to contacting Muscat without talking to Mumbai even once.
Who here hasn't lost contact with Mumbai/Chennai for hours at a time?
I fly from KL to Dubai quite a lot and I reckon there'd be about a 20% chance of not getting them on any frequency.
Done a few trips across that have the west coast of India to contacting Muscat without talking to Mumbai even once.
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They have got to be kidding.... That's ops normal at some stage of every airline pilot's career.
Frankly these blokes should be focusing on a few challenging questions about the Minister for Transport and Regional Services: as to why he's been asleep on the (aviation security) job for the past four years.... Far more relevant to the aviation industry, I would've thought.
Good grief.
Frankly these blokes should be focusing on a few challenging questions about the Minister for Transport and Regional Services: as to why he's been asleep on the (aviation security) job for the past four years.... Far more relevant to the aviation industry, I would've thought.
Good grief.
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Yep. Slow news day alright. Sounds cool & spooky & exciting to the aviation illiterate though.
Who hasn't been through Yangon fir without being able to communicate to them in any way whatsoever? Stick to the last cleared flight level. Stick to the cleared route. Then hey presto, pop out the other side & finally people are talking to you again!
Who hasn't been through Yangon fir without being able to communicate to them in any way whatsoever? Stick to the last cleared flight level. Stick to the cleared route. Then hey presto, pop out the other side & finally people are talking to you again!
Who hasn't been through Yangon fir without being able to communicate to them in any way whatsoever? Stick to the last cleared flight level. Stick to the cleared route. Then hey presto, pop out the other side & finally people are talking to you again!
Heh, seen the word on the map, never actually talked to them.
Well, maybe not that bad, but they're very hard to get a hold of.
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All the way thru Yangon with nought a response!
With all the requirements they expect to be fufilled (Air Defense Clearance numbers etc) prior to entry, you would expect for them to at least be in the office!
With all the requirements they expect to be fufilled (Air Defense Clearance numbers etc) prior to entry, you would expect for them to at least be in the office!
It's probably been 10 years or so since I last flew in Yangon airspace and they didn't talk to me then. You mean to say, nothing's changed?!?! 
If what I've been told is correct, I don't think Mr. Stray had the full story, or if he did he was downplaying the facts.
The situation went on so long an Alert phase was declared
No-one could establish any contact for three hours - so there certainly was concern - then South African authorities heard a weak signal on HF, and finally established two-way comms a further hour later.
"as far as I'm aware it didn't get to a search phase"
"From what I understand, the South African controllers could hear it and there wasn't that level of concern."
