Malaysian Airlines divert to Learmonth
 

Geez Learmonth's been busy lately :eek: for the wrong reasons!!

Maybe this will give them the reasoning to get money from the scroungy government up upgrade facilities in Exmouth eg. hospital etc and the road between Learmonth and Exmouth, if theres a cyclone the roads f:mad:d, actually if theres any rain, the road is pretty much unuseable. So if there was an emergency you would have alot of people but no emergency services, then again that's WA for you!

Happened Thurs morning, a passenger was pretty ill so they diverted.

Edit: heres an article. Malaysian Airlines flight lands at Learmonth with sick passenger | The Australian

Interesting. Not much detail in the article about what actually was the cause!

Don't have a problem with improving infrastructure in outback area's, but the Gov won't pay for it, so who will. As a recognised International alternate, maybe the Gov should get a little pro-active:ugh:

Aussie.

For once the media reported it as it happened...

Sick passenger needed urgent medical attention and Learmonth was the closest alternate for an international flight.

Agree with the comments regarding funding for the area.
Was told third hand that they would have been better off continuing to Perth to save the 1 hour drive back to Exmouth in the back of the ambo. Of course our good friends at the RFDS were able to help out to avoid said drive. :ok:

Good outcome by the sound of it :)

Two medical diversions in over 30 years............you're joking!;)

Has it been confirmed that there have only been 2 medical diversions in 30 years?

A little off topic, but I work for an airline that flys past Learmonth daily, ususally at night and because of the regulation we operate under, we are unable to use the the place. The reason being a) Out side controlled airspace/no Tower, b) no RFF.

Before you start asking " what is wrong with out side controlled air space", don't wate your breath. Most of the pilots thow up their hands when asked to make a visual approach. OCTA, no chance.

Many have asked if we can apply for a dispensation but they are not interested. Same applies for Kalgoorlie as an alternate for Perth - OCTA.

Too bad!

So Mojo, when you fly to Perth you carry ADL as the alternate for PER because the pilots in your outfit can't do a visual approach?

I reckon it would be more like 40 years. Although when the Yanks had their Naval Base there on the North West Cape there was probably a functional hospital then.

jack red, that is not what I said. However the regulations we fly under do not allow us to plan into uncontrolled airspace/airfields without controllers and require us to carry an alternate or its equivalent for every destination. OZ, if my research is correct, if the weather is better that alternate/special alternate minima then a destination alternate need not be nominated.

Sorry Mojo, you did state "most of the pilots" had no chance of making a visual approach OCTA !;)

Hi Guys
The cause of the 777 diversion was a female passenger, was thought to be going in a insulin coma, the flight was on its way to Adelaide. There was doctor on board but not trained for type of emergency, but did a great job of helping the woman, also a doctor there to meet them.
RFDS plane diverted with doctor on board from near YPBO.The crew of the RFDS were given very little info on the woman, when arrived the woman was lot better but still ill.
RFDS then transported her to perth, I hope she will be ok.
How do I know all this, I was the sitting at the pointy end, it was good outcome by all.

Do not foget the medical diversion to PHE by LH in a B747-400 a number of years ago

A British B744 dropped into AS in the wee small hours due med emerg, either early this year or late last year.

RPT's landing at 'other then intended destination' due medical is actually not that uncommon, though rarely into OCTA aerodromes.

We have had a few 146's divert to YMEK due to a medical need, no-one hears about them as it wanst news until the qantas incident.

Seem to recall SQ going into PHE a few years back as well, medical iirc??? End of it is though, if you've got to be on the ground, be on the ground wherever suits at the time :ok:

A380-800 driver

Well we all know how high an A380-800 pilot sits. It must be a lot higher than I thought!
You must be on oxygen all day long looking down on us mere mortals struggling to keep right side up!

I also fly in that part of the world and do use the OCTA ports as alternates but that is the choice of my Flight Operations Department.
Their choice, their train set, their shoulders to bare the weight of their decisions.

Please if you want to start throwing rocks (competently or not) I suggest you prepare yourself for some interesting posts.

Get down off that high horse before you fall off!

I know I said "a little off topic" but the responses to my post are turning out to be Way off topic.
What I meant was we are not allowed to plan into OCTA/no controller airspace/airfields. Many of the pilots I fly with only and have only ever flown within controlled airspace, under radar and ILS to ILS. So, visual approaches are very rare and so having to try to cope with OCTA procedures is a non-starter.
Can it be done? Of course. Can it be done well? Perhaps. Are they the procedures of choice? No!

Enough said. I am sorry I mentioned it.

Well, there's no doubt this was related to the Qantas incident - they both had two engines. :E

Jack, punctuation is important. He said "most of the pilots throw up their hands at a visual approach." Note the full stop ending the sentence.

"OCTA, no chance." That'd be a new sentence.

So he's saying the guys are uncomfortable doing something as straight forward as a visual approach so there is no chance of getting them to fly OCTA where they're even more removed from the ILS to ILS system they're used to.