MERGED: Qantas Decompression ?

[BigGun]

Well, not quite concrete but maybe a few sheets of aluminium.
YouTube - Scuba Tank - Valve Cut

The gauge on that tank seems to reed around 330 psi the ones on the ac are alot bigger and have a minimum pressure of 1800psi @20degC

[burna]

Qantas passengers arrive in Melbourne

Qantas passengers arrive in Melbourne - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

"Steve Winchester was a passenger on the plane and says aside from the exterior damage, a hole opened up on the cabin floor."

Could this be a floor vent to stop floor from collapsing?

[Wod]

"Well bugger me!"


(As an aside; a number of people on this and other threads keep trying to put this aircraft in Manilla. Manilla can be found in NSW well to the left of the HKG-MEL track)

[geoffrey thomas]

Geoff Dixon

BTW GD did praise the crew in several releases but that has not been picked up by the media as yet.
Best
Geoffrey Thomas
Air Transport World

SYDNEY, 25 July: Qantas has arranged for a replacement aircraft to fly to Manila tonight to collect the passengers from QF30, which was diverted earlier today en route from Hong Kong to Melbourne.
The replacement Qantas B747 aircraft is scheduled to depart Manila shortly after 11pm local time and is due to arrive in Melbourne on Saturday morning.
The Chief Executive Officer of Qantas, Mr Geoff Dixon, said the airline was sending an investigation team including Qantas engineering personnel to Manila tonight to carry out an investigation.
Mr Dixon praised the pilots and cabin crew for the way they handled the incident.
“This was a highly unusual situation and our crew responded with the professionalism that Qantas is known for,” he said.

[relax737]

Colonel, I tend to agree. If the container is ruptured/torn, then the force required to do that must surely have come from within indicating explosion possibly caused by DG's.

I don't see a rush of air past the container causing it to fail; it may be that there is damage to the other side as well, and then the damage may well have been caused by an outrush of air taking the path through the container.

Width only small pics to see the damage, it is difficult, if not impossible, to make any sort of determination.

I hope it can be tracked back to maintenance, or lack of, for the engineers sakes. The reasons are twofold; if it wasn't a maintenance issue then they have egg on their faces over their claims that QF mgt are at fault over outsourcing services, if it is,then they look good and have a case for what they're chasing.

And yes, any sort of credit from the CEO was conspicuous by its absence, although it's what we train for every few months, and is public credit due?

[Awnick]

" i thought pterodactyl's were meant to have TCAS"

[burna]

I don't see a rush of air past the container causing it to fail; it may be that there is damage to the other side as well, and then the damage may well have been caused by an outrush of air taking the path through the container.

You're forgetting that the air inside the container is at the same pressure as the cargo hold, so when the cargo hold decompresses the container also has to decompress rapidly or it will burst.
My understanding is those containers are not designed to hold pressure.

[horserun]

"With a bit of luck this wont be the only hole in Manila I will climbing into"

[7feet]

From the limited photos available, I cannot make out any suggestion of a torn edge from the baggage ULD. Also from the photos it would appear the baggage is still neatly stacked, I would have thought that most of the baggage would have been sucked out and now at the bottom of the sea.
Maybe what we are seeing in the photos is pallet loaded baggage, restrained by netting.

[HotDog]

QF Insider

The obvious part of this matter(other than the hole) is the incredible inability of the CEO to praise the actions of both the technical aircrew and the cabin crew. His acidity is sad to see.

Sunfish

You won't see GD praising anyone except himself. He is a narcissist

Geoffrey Thomas
Air Transport World

BTW GD did praise the crew in several releases but that has not been picked up by the media as yet.

Would an apology be in order?

[NSEU]

Well, not quite concrete but maybe a few sheets of aluminium.

The bottle in the video seems to be much smaller than the 747 bottles, but irrespective, there has been an incident where a bottle has put holes in several concrete walls before coming to a rest in the street outside.

The pax O2 sidewall bottles are mounted "up/down". The hole looks like it's inboard/outboard.

Rgds.
NSEU

[VH-Cheer Up]

I didn't think the cargo containers were even the slightest bit sealed, so they would likely decompress about as fast as the external environment (i.e.the hold).

The question still not really answered is whether those bags seen trying to abandon ship were actually in a baggage container, or were they loose, or netted?

I thought everything went into a container on 74s. If so, what broke the container?

[Redstone]

Hmmm, corrosion? I'm not 100% convinced yet. A corrrosion problem in that area would have probably been along the production "lap joint" where one sheet plate coming down the side of the fuse overlaps the next continuing on down, or perhaps where some sheer ties or stringers attach to the frames and skin. Very unusual (read never seen it myself) for corrosion to just appear all by itself out in the open on the inside of the fuse like that. I would expect that if the lap joint in that regon of the fuselage were the suspect, then there would not be a hole, but perhaps it would have opened up Aloha style, like a zipper.

[Long Bay Mauler]

I just saw the American ABC news footage.

Good to see the hosties continue with a drinks service with portable oxygen bottles on!!!!I am sure everyone deserved a drink.

Now thats the spirit.

[NSEU]

"I thought everything went into a container on 74s."

Not everything. You can have netted cargo, live animals, cars, etc...

Re explosive decompression...

I think people are failing to realise how much force is on the fuselage at altitude. With a differential pressure of say, 8psi (8lbs on one square inch), on a square metre of fuselage skin, that's about 12,400 lbs of force.. i.e. about 5 and a half metric tonnes (someone check my calculations, please :P).

Rgds.
NSEU

[burna]

I didn't think the cargo containers were even the slightest bit sealed, so they would likely decompress about as fast as the external environment (i.e.the hold).

We're talking about one of these, right?
Dimerco - your china logistics specialist

Has sides on it.

Capacity is 14,300 litres. With the hold going from something like 10.9 psi to 4.3 psi that container suddenly contains something like 36245 litres extra of air.
ie. Is under 6.6 psi o pressure.

This air has to escape through the small gaps around the doors of the container almost instantly, i it can't then it will blow th container out somewhere.

NB. Sums done in a rush, may be off a bit.

This is my understanding, have been wrong once or twice tho'. Just the once or twice mind!

[Redstone]

I have seen frame webs cracked through before, and sheer ties cracked through, just thinking out loud after looking at that picture again that it would have had to have been multiple structural failure over quite a sizable area, all load paths are redundant, and a 747 airframe is built very strong. I dont ever remember seeing suitcases loaded loose on a pallet, crayfish ard mangoes yes..... but not suitcases.

The ULD's are usually half size cans, and do not have "doors" that seal, just a canvas flap that has pins to lock it "closed" if hold was full then cans would have been close to butting up against each other, I still reckon something would have had to "breach" the skin of the can.

[mypilot]

This incident reminds me of a similar incident of Aloha Airlines flight 243 on the 28th April 1988 where they had a larger explosive decompression.

Wasn't that due to ignoring corrosion of the air frame?

Maybe Qantas had exceeding the number of the cycles on the plane or are not servicing the plane fully to save money?

[leffe]

Whats the name of Qantas' new 747?


The manilla folder!!.....

[digiteyes]

OEE was first registered 31 Oct 2002

Our current 'youngest' 744 is OEJ (Wunala Dreaming) 16 may 2003