Reuters report on QF unscheduled landing.
 

Why is Woomera posting this news??

I have deleted a post which referred to this event in a VERY dramatic manner, unrelated to its' RELATIVELY routine nature, handled in the professional manner we would expect of Australian aviators , I am prepared to accept that it was untintentional and an innapropriate use of the language, but it would have drawn some serious flak nonetheless.. .Notwithstanding that the poster had upgraded the 130 odd Argyle pax to a B767, for which they would have been surely grateful notwithstanding the comfort of the B737.

I do not want or intend to repeat this exercise.

[quote]. .Qantas plane makes emergency landing . . Source: REUTERS . . . . SYDNEY, Jan 24 (Reuters) - A Qantas Boeing 737 charter flight made an emergency landing at a remote air force base in Western Australia overnight after the pilot shut down one of its engines because of mechanical problems.

Early investigations showed a faulty light may have mistakenly indicated a problem with the oil filter on the plane, a Qantas spokeswoman said on Thursday.

advertisement . . . .The flight from the Argyle diamond mine near Kununurra to Perth, was forced to switch off an engine and land at the Curtin Royal Australian Air Force base, 1,300 km (810 miles) northwest of Perth.

"There was an indication of a problem with the oil filter on one of the engines, so the captain proceeded to shut the engine down and diverted to Curtin," the spokeswoman said.

Two of the plane's tyres deflated on landing due to the weight of the fuel-laden aircraft just an hour into the flight, she said.

None of the 130 people on board was injured.

A Boeing 767 left Perth on Thursday morning to transfer the stranded passengers and an engineer on board will reinflate the tyres on the stricken jet.

Qantas, which ranks as one of the world's safest airlines, has suffered a series of embarrassing mishaps, with pilots forced to abort several flights or make emergency landings over the past couple of years.

One the most dramatic incidents occurred when a Qantas Boeing 747-400 jumbo skidded off the runway on landing in heavy rain at Bangkok in September 1999.

Shares in Qanta closed the previous session at A$3.72.. .<hr></blockquote>

I don't know that there is much that can be added CONSTRUCTIVELY, but if there is then it would be welcome. Otherwise it demonstrates the reason why airline operation properly conducted is the safest transport system yet invented by man. <img src="cool.gif" border="0">

Certainly the accuracy of the reporting by the media and by the QF spokesperson leaves something to be desired.

It is said that the tyres deflated on landing because of the weight of fuel. That would suggest that the tyres "blew" on tochdown. In that case wheel/tyre changes would be required.

On the other hand the news report goes on to say that an engineer will be flown in to "reinflate" the tyres. So that begs the question as to whether the tyres deflated via fusible plug operation sometime after touch down.

Curtin has a respectable runway available and the question does arise as to why the tyres deflated in the first place.

[ 24 January 2002: Message edited by: The Vicar ]</p>

Hi all,. .please forgive my ignorance in this matter, is this the RAAF base I know as Learmonth, or some other.. .I have not flown in Oz airspace for some years, and may be just out of date with all the new names!. .Thanks.

Of course the media just had to mention BKK didn't they. Get over it guys. <img src="rolleyes.gif" border="0">

Was it engine no. 2 again? <img src="eek.gif" border="0">

[ 24 January 2002: Message edited by: Miss Behaviour ]</p>

jonno

Learmonth is some 600 nm North of Perth, whilst Curtin is 95 nm ENE of Broome, not far from Derby.

Jonno,. .Learmonth is near Exmouth, Curtin is near Derby. Both are "bare bones" RAAF bases.

reportp it doesn,t quite work like that ref the tyres. They are high pressure or low pressure tyres, size rating etc are different, and there are different specs for the wheel well area as a result of the size (lp being bigger). Why they "blew" on landing is anyones guess with the lack of info at this stage, however depending on landing weight the max tyre speed can be exceeded and that may well cause overheat or other damage. It,ll be interesting to see some more facts when they are revealed. Sounds like a good job done by the crew.

The only thing the crew overlooked was if they landed at Broome instead, the Cable Beach Club would have offered better accomodation!!!

The usual bunch of second-guessing by "Monday morning quarterbacks" on this forum. Do you guys know what time of day it was? What the weather was like? What the weight of the aircraft was? What the checklist recommedations were?

The crew got the aircraft on the ground safely with no injuries. As for Reuters report abound "recent embarassing incidents" - any airline the size of QF will have mechanical problems merely as a result of the chance of an incident occurring and the scale of the operation. That is, a bigger operation will have more chances of experiencing routine mechanical malfunctions.

As for BKK - and I can here all the anti-QF critics gathering voice - the reports have been tabled. We (the pilots) have all discussed it. Procedures have been put in place, lessons have been learnt and hopefully the incident will not be repeated. But to read anything into this incident other than a mechanical malfunction occurring in a fairly inhospitable part of Australia is ridiculous.