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Qantas A380 grounded after door almost ripped off at Sydney Airport
A door on a Qantas A380 has been almost totally ripped off after one of the airline's double-deck planes struck scaffolding as it was being rolled out of a maintenance hangar at Sydney Airport.The incident in the hangar at Qantas' jet base late on Friday forced the cancellation of flight QF7 from Sydney to Dallas in the US on Saturday afternoon. A return flight – QF8 – that was due to leave Dallas on Sunday (AEST) has also been cancelled due to the damaged A380.
The airline already has two A380s on the ground undergoing refurbishment in Brisbane and Abu Dhabi, in the Middle East. The A380 is the flagship of Qantas' fleet, of which it has 12.The damaged A380 – registered VH-OQB – had been undergoing routine maintenance in Hangar 96 at the jet base and struck a support structure as it was being pulled out in readiness to re-enter service.Engineers expect it to take about two weeks to fix the damaged aircraft. Qantas confirmed in a statement that the aircraft door of the A380 "sustained some damage inside the hangar" during maintenance. "We are working to minimise impacts to our customers and we apologise for any delays," a spokesman said on Saturday. Passengers who were on the cancelled Sydney-Dallas flights have been put on alternative services. The incident comes as Qantas grounded three of its Boeing 737 aircraft late last month for repair after finding cracks in the "pickle fork", which reinforces the wings' connection to the plane's body.Qantas completed inspections on all 33 of its 737 planes with more than 22,600 flights more than a week ago. US manufacturer Boeing and airline regulators have said that the pickle-fork cracks do not pose an immediate safety risk. https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/nat...09-p5391o.htmlhttps://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....cd95993e5e.jpg |
Door frames are a pain. |
That looks expensive..
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Why not close the door before moving the airplane?
Or is that too simple? |
Originally Posted by Chris2303
(Post 10614928)
Why not close the door before moving the airplane?
Or is that too simple? |
Originally Posted by Sunfish
(Post 10614802)
Door frames are a pain. |
Originally Posted by compressor stall
(Post 10614950)
At a guess - not enough staff on to have already done it as part of the post check procedure and pressure to get it out of the hangar on time. An extra 5 mins to close the doors times all those aircraft in maintenance equals two whole days... think of what that is off the KPI in an accountant's eyes.
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Years ago when I was an apprentice AME, it was drilled into me that all doors must be closed when towing or moving a pressurised aircraft. Reason being was due to the airframe structural integrity potentially being compromised if a door was left open. I actually believe it was a standard practice throughout the industry back then. I wouldn’t be surprised if the manufacturer’s maintenance procedures mandate the closure of all doors and hatches when the aircraft is under tow. |
Originally Posted by Duck Pilot
(Post 10614989)
Years ago when I was an apprentice AME, it was drilled into me that all doors must be closed when towing or moving a pressurised aircraft. Reason being was due to the airframe structural integrity potentially being compromised if a door was left open. I actually believe it was a standard practice throughout the industry back then. I wouldn’t be surprised if the manufacturer’s maintenance procedures mandate the closure of all doors and hatches when the aircraft is under tow. |
Duck pilot you would be wrong with your door open towing assumptions. AMM allows towing with doors not only open but removed.
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At least it won’t have to go far to get fixed. |
Originally Posted by Berealgetreal
(Post 10615040)
At least it won’t have to go far to get fixed. |
Generally we don’t tow with doors open, amm allows or not. Places a lot of load on the knuckle in the hinge arm. They are generally worn anyway so the bumps don’t help. Also more things hanging off the side don’t help with clearance from stands. Cargo doors can be hanging vertical for a tow if needed. Just a simple maintenance error and I feel sorry for the guys kicking themselves for the mistake. They would have been under pressure to move it and probably over worked and possibly tired. as long as the skin wasn’t damaged or the door frame, bolt a new door and Hing arm and guide rods tig it and off you go 1-2 shifts if you have spares on hand. Send the door to the shop. Don’t know if the 380 door is glare or alloy. The guys are human and make mistakes. Not because they came to work deciding to rip off a door. But because of a bunch of factors that led to the incident. |
The operation wont learn. There'll be an equal amount of neck breathers pressing to get the stricken bird back in service.
its a brutal, never ending cycle. thoughts are with the pic and wing walkers thank god for the golf crew!! I dont know that the company truly appreciates the golf crews worth and what having their capability, skill and experience in the fold truly means. |
Berealgetreal
It was 30 years ago since I was an apprentice, so things may have changed since then. However I certainly recall being told. Regardless of this, I hope the company supports the engineers involved as it appears to be a simple mistake. |
Bad week for the rainbow man
Bad week for little Napoleon this week. Lots of negative issues occurring within the organisation. Oh well, things happen I guess. But her certainly won’t be happy with the door photo being leaked to the public.
Busted doors, cracks in pickle forks, TWU action, staff unhappy with his $24m, going to war with airports, plus screwing sections of his workforce over their EBA’s. What’s next on the list???? |
Honeymoon cystitis ? |
Originally Posted by blow.n.gasket
(Post 10615163)
Honeymoon cystitis ? |
Just wondering: are towing operations undertaken with that little clearance? I'd guess that a protruding door can't add more than 1m to the whole thing.
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incident in the hangar at Qantas' jet base late on Friday Another reason for shutting doors before moving is because those onboard could mistakenly think the stairs moved with the plane. This kind of accident has happened enough times to be of concern. |
That's what happens when you send your maintenance overseas!
Oh? Hang on... (Relax, I'm just stirring...) |
Originally Posted by blow.n.gasket
(Post 10615163)
Honeymoon cystitis ? |
Funny, I'm watching Outback Truckers right now, and a guy transporting a 9-meter-wide 90-tons transformer is complaining that a tourist caravan slowed him down to "just 70 kph". Need for speed, ay.
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Originally Posted by 320busboy
(Post 10615095)
Generally we don’t tow with doors open, amm allows or not. Places a lot of load on the knuckle in the hinge arm. They are generally worn anyway so the bumps don’t help. Also more things hanging off the side don’t help with clearance from stands. Cargo doors can be hanging vertical for a tow if needed. Just a simple maintenance error and I feel sorry for the guys kicking themselves for the mistake. They would have been under pressure to move it and probably over worked and possibly tired. as long as the skin wasn’t damaged or the door frame, bolt a new door and Hing arm and guide rods tig it and off you go 1-2 shifts if you have spares on hand. Send the door to the shop. Don’t know if the 380 door is glare or alloy. The guys are human and make mistakes. Not because they came to work deciding to rip off a door. But because of a bunch of factors that led to the incident. |
Originally Posted by 320busboy
(Post 10615095)
Generally we don’t tow with doors open, amm allows or not. Places a lot of load on the knuckle in the hinge arm. They are generally worn anyway so the bumps don’t help. Also more things hanging off the side don’t help with clearance from stands. Cargo doors can be hanging vertical for a tow if needed. Just a simple maintenance error and I feel sorry for the guys kicking themselves for the mistake. They would have been under pressure to move it and probably over worked and possibly tired. as long as the skin wasn’t damaged or the door frame, bolt a new door and Hing arm and guide rods tig it and off you go 1-2 shifts if you have spares on hand. Send the door to the shop. Don’t know if the 380 door is glare or alloy. The guys are human and make mistakes. Not because they came to work deciding to rip off a door. But because of a bunch of factors that led to the incident. Despite some snide remarks, keeping an airline going with the enormous KPI pressures from those in the ivory towers is not easy. The pilots cop it, the cabin crew cop it, and the engineers cop it. I’ve been doing this for a long time, and I can tell you, sometimes it takes larger balls than I can fit in my pants to tell some suit in an office that this is going to take a little bit longer than he thinks it should. |
AFAIK each 380 door is a unique piece. Made afte a laser scan of the fuselage. At least that's what they told me at the Donauwoerth plant making them many moons ago.
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Originally Posted by Duck Pilot
(Post 10615103)
Berealgetreal
It was 30 years ago since I was an apprentice, so things may have changed since then. However I certainly recall being told. Regardless of this, I hope the company supports the engineers involved as it appears to be a simple mistake. Pilots have nothing but the highest respect for engineers, make no mistake of it. No idea how the job has no fatigue limits. Totally feel for the guys and hope it’s recognised as just a mistake. None of us go to work and hope to damage a machine, it’s basically a worst nightmare scenario. |
The airline already has two A380s on the ground undergoing refurbishment in Brisbane and Abu Dhabi |
Originally Posted by Traffic_Is_Er_Was
(Post 10615647)
There isn't one in Brisbane.
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Dresden or Brisbane pretty close. |
Pity QF management made so much fanfare of retiring VH-OJU - should have kept it a few more weeks. |
Originally Posted by atakacs
(Post 10615183)
Just wondering: are towing operations undertaken with that little clearance? I'd guess that a protruding door can't add more than 1m to the whole thing.
i expect the incidence rate to be extremely low when factoring for number of tows accomplished successfully... but still... a 0 incidence rate is the target, not low incidence rates |
Yeah back in the GODs when I was doing tow & stow as a leading hand, I always had my wing walkers each check their side for any obstructions specifically including doors prior to any tow. I hate paperwork!!
No criticism mind, I worked the aircraft in the days when we actually had skilled people doing it and more than 1 on a shift. |
It was similar in the UK in the good old days ...... man watching each engine & each wing tip checked along with plenty of other people checking & a whistle if anything didn’t look right ..... probably can’t have that these days as someone would complain about the noise....... people on the aircraft were aeronautical trained!!
Love the name by the way musthavagander ..... we used to have some called musthavapiss. When the work was being dished out! |
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