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Pilot injured as a result of Jetblast at Brisbane International
Pilot sent tumbling by Qantas jumbo's engine thrust
Pilot sent tumbling by Qantas jumbo's engine thrust Matt O'Sullivan October 20, 2011 - 10:54AM A VIRGIN AUSTRALIA pilot has been badly injured after he was blown from stairs at the rear of a passenger jet by the engine thrust from a Qantas 747 jumbo, which was taxi-ing close to his plane. Safety experts are looking into how the Qantas jumbo came close enough to the Boeing 737, which is operated by Virgin subsidiary Pacific Blue, to blow over the stairs on which the first officer was standing. The pilot had been conducting pre-flight checks on the 737 passenger jet, which was parked at Brisbane Airport's international terminal, shortly before it was due to take off to Bali on Friday. The first officer suffered a fractured arm and leg when the aluminium stairs were blown over by the force of the Qantas jumbo's engine blast. The 747 had been taxi-ing to a runway and was awaiting clearance from air traffic controllers to take off when the incident occurred. The Qantas jumbo – QF8 – had stopped over in Brisbane to offload passengers while on its way to its final destination of Sydney. The jumbo's engines have stronger thrust than other aircraft because it is used to fly one of the longest routes in the world between Australia and Dallas, Texas. A Virgin spokeswoman said the aluminium stairs to the 737 were blown over several times by the blast of the Qantas engines and the pilot's injuries could have been worse. "Our plane was in the right place at the right time," she said. "The one dynamic which was different was the thrust level of the Qantas plane which caused the stairs to blow over." But Qantas said its plane was "operating normally" under instructions from air traffic control and "at no stage" was excessive thrust used. The airline has reported the incident to the Australian Transport Safety Bureau. Brisbane Airport said the Virgin aircraft was in its normal parking bay when the incident occurred and, although construction work is under way at the terminal, none was happening in the nearby vicinity. There had been a suggestion that construction work meant the Virgin aircraft was in a slightly different position. |
Ouch! Has anyone seen the video of the truck being blown over whilst driving behind a 747.
Ops manuals of jet aircraft are usually repleat with warnings of the dangers of thrust to nearby aircraft, machinery, people, etc... Be interesting to see who ultimately carries the can. Hope the pilot makes a speedy recovery. Could quite as easily ended up in the Coroner's court! :uhoh: |
Shouldn't be reading JetBlast whilst at work...
(Seriously though, get well soon mate.):ok: |
Yellow vest saves the day again..... erm :rolleyes:
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"The jumbo's engines have stronger thrust than other aircraft because it is used to fly one of the longest routes in the world between Australia and Dallas, Texas."
Give us a break, where do they get this stuff! Maybe using takeoff power to taxi as well. |
There is potential to harm quite a number of passengers at the end of the Bravo pier in MEL too. Quite often we are taxing out when pax are boarding on the adjacent bay and we almost immediately turn north- up the hill- and point the engines directly at it. I've started to apply more thrust initially so that I'm at idle as I go around the corner and up the hill but it's an issue.
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Hewlett, there is an element of truth in that statement:
"The jumbo's engines have stronger thrust than other aircraft because it is used to fly one of the longest routes in the world between Australia and Dallas, Texas." I'd be interested if one of our engineers can explain why the GE idle setting needs to be so high. |
Bugger, sounds like a very unfortunate place to get hit by the blast. would this poor fella have suffered burns aswel?
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"Our plane was in the right place at the right time," she said. |
Thanks GB. Point taken, I stand corrected. Not likely to have been caused by idle thrust though, maybe breakaway or similiar trying to catch up on a late departure? Stand design may need some mods.
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Quite often we are taxing out when pax are boarding on the adjacent bay and we almost immediately turn north- up the hill- and point the engines directly at it. I've started to apply more thrust initially so that I'm at idle |
I personally like to use at least 90% thrust here |
It beggers belief. Ive seen them stand free in 60 kt winds and not even budge. If its the standard silver ones. They are sturdy buggers, Ive even seen them pushed sideways by a tug. The wheel track at the aircraft end is like 3m.
Will be an interesting report. |
Out of interest, what N1 do QF set prior to setting thrust on their GE powered -400s?
Ie we set 1.1 EPR on the Rolls and the Pratt and 45% N1 for GE, prior to pressing TOGA. |
like 3m |
Once again...lack of airmanship and situational awareness of you lot of Gen X and Gen Y pilots...and I use the term pilot, loosely!
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He means Wheel base
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If it was a QF bird, I would be almost certain there were no Gen Yers in the cockpit! Most accounts say Gen Y starts after 1990. Don't think there has been much recruitment for people in this age range at the rat recently!
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Measured on the thrust meter or rev counter, Blueloo?? |
Could have been worse. It could have been the ****ter truck blown over and the Pilot covered in 'post lunch deposits'.
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