Yet another day, another QF incident (3 in a row)
 

https://www.smh.com.au/business/comp...19-p5cdxl.html

Not ideal, two three four in two three days

https://7news.com.au/travel/qantas/qantas-flight-to-melbourne-turned-back-over-engine-issue-after-circling-air-for-almost-an-hour--c-9504781

GT said it wasnt a problem

When is someone going to question AJ about how modern aircraft don't need as much maintenance as they used to?

and he would likely answer with something like: we didn’t crash did we?

And it has happened again!

And another one today. Mel-SYD turnback.

The Complex System Is Working
 

So what? OMG a plane landed safely after an inflight incident!

The cockpit and cabin crew are following their training and saving all souls on board and saving the aircraft. Well done.

Look at the ATSB for the numerous incidents that occur without any press whatso-ever.
"Better to be on the ground wishing you were in the air, rather than being in the air and wishing you were on the ground."

There are many moving parts in an aircraft, and the systems and operations that help them run. Many people are involved. It mostly works very well given its complexity.
There is no such thing as a perfect system (Reason Model).

That's a hat trick!
https://www.theage.com.au/business/c...20-p5ce8v.html

Nothing to see here. Time we all moved on. Happy Friday.

Behind a paywall.

4 mechanical issues within the span of 3 days should be concerning, no?

https://7news.com.au/travel/qantas/q...our--c-9504781

Actually now 4 turn backs in 3 days (does a 717 count?)

Are you suggesting it's not newsworthy that they've had 4 air returns in 3 days? That's gotta be a record for QF

I think the only people not considering all these events newsworthy is those at Qantas. Numerous group engine failures, turnbacks, and no ATSB record to be found of most of them. I would rather the news beat up at the moment on these airlines as no one else seems to be critical of the groups maintenance record for the last 12 months. Pretty sure the brake fire Dash 8 would not have been investigated had it not appeared on the news and a few rumors surfaced about what happened. And the torch needs to be shone as with all the cutbacks happening, management need to be implicated and not everything swept under the carpet.

I can probably say at one airport in this country there’s 5-8 air or ground returns of aircraft per week. Virtually none make headlines.

The nation’s biggest carrier has 3 or 4 isolated incidents this week. Probably not uncommon given the amount of times it would happen across the nation. The latter two would have remained unreported had the NZ incident not happened.

Basically heightened media reporting does not indicate trend.

No, the events at all the group airlines from the last 12 months shows the trend. Multiple engine failures, Multiple air returns for various reasons. I witnessed two QF flight diversions not due to weather in the last two days none of which made the news, so again the news is just highlighting the tip of the iceberg. We spent the last 12 months watching news of Jetstar passengers stranded in various places due to tech issues, then NJS and network woes, QLink Dashes were a basket case for most of last year and so on. Ansett and Tiger were grounded for far less, but of course the regulator and ATSB seemed to highlight every issue they had, rather than just picking the ones in the news.

I have heard from a contact within the ATSB that there are basically no investigators with any real experience beyond light singles and a human factors degree. I wouldn’t hold my breath with regard to a thorough investigation. The trend may not be anything more than an unlucky set of coincidences…I’ll leave it at that.

Yep. The recent invention of ATSB’s ‘long standing’ policy not to investigate mid-air collisions of the kind near Gympie in late 2022 was not the product of an unwillingness of government to fund investigations. It was the product of ATSB’s inability to attract and keep the people it needs to do timely and expert investigations of even the incidents ATSB says are its priority.

Yet another reason to pray even harder for no VH-registered RPT hull loss and that this week has been a random group of unrelated, non-systemic events.

From what I hear, the ATSB will be too busy investigating itself soon, well at least someone will be.

Do you have any statistical data of this “trend, compared to post Covid or worldwide rates?

Usually we don’t call something a trend until we see the numbers actually indicating that.

Qantas calls for calm after engine failure and three flight turnbacks

There are more than 10,000 “turnbacks” across the aviation industry every year, with Australia’s largest carrier Qantas averaging 60.

So QF averages a “turnback” every 6 days. What’s the latest trend for the month, the last 3 months etc? Will there be more for the last 12 months than next?

It’s why you can’t rely on tabloid media for statistical safety trends.

Now, which 737 is going to have an engine issue tomorrow?