ANOTHER QANTAS RB211 ENGINE FAILURE

[Oriana]

From The Aviation Herald.

Incident: Qantas B744 near Bangkok on Oct 16th 2011, engine shut down in flight

By Simon Hradecky, created Sunday, Oct 16th 2011 22:07Z, last updated Sunday, Oct 16th 2011 22:18Z

A Qantas Boeing 747-400, registration VH-OJS performing flight QF-2 from Bangkok (Thailand) to Sydney,NS (Australia) with 356 passengers, was climbing out of Bangkok about 10 minutes into the flight when a loud bang was emitted by an engine (RB211) followed by vibrations. The crew shut the engine down and returned to Bangkok for a safe landing about 75 minutes later.

Passengers reported the engine emitted sparks as well.

The airline confirmed the crew shut an engine down following a bang and excessive shuddering about 10 minutes into the flight.

The flight is now expected to depart Bangkok with a delay of 24 hours.

[ALAEA Fed Sec]

5th pod being prepared now.

Remember why these donks are failing. The same stage blade keeps cracking and there is a known mod to fix the problem. Qantas can't carry out the mod because they closed down their own RR workshop. The overseas workshops are full.

It's a circus.

[mcgrath50]

And the explanation from the spokesman? "There was a bang"

Oh please. Don't want to get too technical with the great unwashed now do we!

[1a sound asleep]

"But there is no safety risk to our passengers. At Qantas safety is our number one priority. There was no danger and it wasn't an emergency. In the interests of safety we decided to return to the airport rather than continue on the 3 remaining engines. This is a just a precaution and our pilots are trained to deal with these safety issues in the simulator". Its totally normal at Qantas.

[ohallen]

1a you missed the most important parts...our highly skilled and valued pilots, who the company has supported through the most meticulous training programs over many years and who now have NO future with our company, but they should know we value them when it suits our cynical PR purposes to prop up our well earned bonus systems (ours not theirs).

There you go, that should save Rat Spin Doctors some time and effort.

[sierra5913]

Will it be conveniently blamed on the strikes?

[framer]

Fed Sec, if

The same stage blade keeps cracking and there is a known mod to fix the problem. Qantas can't carry out the mod because they closed down their own RR workshop. The overseas workshops are full.

is true, can you not prepare a press release ststing the facts?

[SweetnLow]

Fed Sec
I concur with Framer - Qantas is doing all the spin, can you not reply in kind with media adds stating these types of facts? The general public only see the Qantas spin. If there is a known fix to these engine issues (and other issues surrounding maintenance at QF) but can't be actioned because AJ and the brainless money men killed the maintenace plant, surely travelling the public would find that situation unacceptable.
Sweet.

[MACH082]

That's not the only thing they have lost recently

Something stinks

Qantas loses boy. Sorry, here's a travel voucher | News.com.au

QANTAS has fessed up to losing track of an unaccompanied 11-year-old boy and even misplacing the paperwork involving his flight to Hobart.
When the boy arrived at Hobart Airport on his own late at night on September 28 he was forced to wander around on his own looking for his mother, The Age reports.

Qantas says the incident happened during a particularly busy night when the arrivals hall of Hobart Airport was in turmoil because storms in Melbourne had caused flight delays, passenger disruption and lost baggage.

The boy, who had been dropped off at Melbourne Airport by his uncle and passed into the care of Qantas cabin crew, told his mother, Leanne Decleva, that he didn't know why he was on his own after landing in Hobart.

"Anyone could have come along and just creamed him up in a couple of seconds," said Ms Decleva, a child protection worker.

She marched him back to the Qantas counter to find out what had happened and was told they had no paperwork to sign for his collection and did not know who was authorised to pick him up.

"I've shown my licence as ID and they just (said) take him," Ms Decleva said.

"But there could have been a custody battle in train and I may have been prevented from having any contact with him.

"Working in child protection, I know all this stuff, because it happens all the time."

She has declined the airline's offer of a $1000 travel voucher and is considering her legal options.
It comes as Qantas continues negotiations with a union over a pay dispute which has affected up to 60,000 passengers so far - with more disruptions to come.


Read more: Qantas loses boy. Sorry, here's a travel voucher | News.com.au

[denabol]

This lays it on the line, as he often does.

Qantas emergency at Bangkok involves outsourced engine work | Plane Talking

[Mr Leslie Chow]

SP I agree with the other two posts.

If this is the case I am sure you are getting the media release ready if not out already. I bet that they come out saying that the engine was maintained in Australia blah blah blah.

Also sky news reporting that AIPA claims QF walks out of FWA negotiations if not reported already.

[unionist1974]

The dumb decision to close EOC , is really hurting . The best engine shop in any airline closed ,why? And all the Unions stood by and watched it happen , why Mmmmmmmmmmm.

[SweetnLow]

Another good article by Ben Sandilands - but again the mainsteam public don't read Crikey! Or would know who Ben is. There must be a way to break into the mainstream media with this information or the full page 'We're Sorry' ads by QF will keep winning the public over......have you ever read such tripe? A well scripted rebuttal could do wonders....

[limelight]

Alternate ways of getting the news out?

There may be another way that to my knowledge has not been tried.

Qantas has been given rights by the Government for international carriage.

Why not everyone write (you must send a letter, they have to reply) to your local MP, which explains the situation, and how detrimental this is to Australia's interests.

We just need a damm good letter where we can fill in our bits.

[framer]

From the Crikey article;

The RB211 engine issue highlights the need for Qantas to consider more than theoretical savings in decisions that affect operational safety and reliability.

This is 100% true but...... if you are paying your managers huge bonuses to cut costs in their own areas of the company you will never achieve it. The head of engineering who signed off on the closure or reported that it wouldn't affect safety to the board, won't give a stuff becuase he/she has already bought a new Mercedes with that years bonus.
They probably don't even understand that the error chain to a hull loss often starts years prior to the accident with a management, decision.

[JALurker]

Limelight,

That is a damn fine idea.

If anyone drafts such a letter, please PM me, I will happily sign it a send it off to every parliamentarian I can think of.

I am not involved in the aviation industry, but as someone who flys from time to time, I have a strong interest in the pilot's (and other staff) health and well being. I feel sorry for everyone who is currently employed with Qantas, the ongoing stress must be taking its toll.

What an abject failure of management. It would be interesting to get hold of internal satisfaction surveys over a number of years to see if the downward trend correlates with the current management tenure.

[SweetnLow]

Framer, completely agree. Unless told, the average joe won't link the events that eventually lead to a smoking hole in the ground, which is the by-product of poor planning in every sense of the word. Mean while, as you say the boss has finished his tenure, received a hefty bonus for a job well done and can sleep comfortably - until he hears news of the smoking hole and then with any luck might feel a small amount of remorse.

It needs to be out there in the mainstream media as a concise, unemotional message that is truthful and insightful...

[denabol]

I think we need to reconsider mainstream media. I get my news and commentary on an iPad2 and a larger screen PC. Business Spectator, Crikey, the Sydney Morning Herald, The Oz, the ABC, and some foreign finance media and blogs, especially on Aviation Week and Flightglobal, are much easier to handle that way, and my kids have shown me RSS to get good financial stuff pushed out to me. I think what was mainstream in shopping, flying, banking, and getting news, is all in decline.

Don't like everything that has changed either, but I know it has changed and that nothing is going back to the way it was.

[another superlame]

So once again another RB211 self destructs due to decisions by management to outsource to the lowest common denominator, costing more money, destroying any goodwill Qantas had with the passengers on that flight.

Has the company spokesmodel Livvy had any thing to say in regards to this episode?

I think this engine popped 2 weeks too early. Surely it was meant to blow on the anniversary of OQA.

[ALAEA Fed Sec]

We have some better stuff in the press today.