Why I unbuckle my seatbelt
 

I am SLF in cattle-class. I obey the seatbelt sign. When seated, I buckle up. But when I have to use a lavatory I unbuckle. And on a long haul flight there are times when I have NO CHOICE but to queue up and wait in line (OK, I could p1ss in my seat, but what would CC say to that?). 44 out of 300? Say 15 queuing for the loos, plus one more for each loo, plus the mother walking to settle her baby, plus the lotharios permanently parked in the galleys trying to chat up the CC (M or F) or just wanting a drink refill, plus the CC themselves, plus the few getting their passport out of the overhead to write on yet another form, plus ...

Yeah, 44 or 50, easy, if the sign was off, and not one of them doing a 'stupid' thing.

Why on earth is a police investigation underway.. is there any evidence of criminal activity as the cause ?

QF incident
 

The few time I have flown with QF they have been excellent with regard to cabin safety, especially the seat belt rules. A girl I know was severly injured on a BA flight in CAT some years ago.Hope the pax recover soon.

Police Investigation
 

Bruce Wayne, the police are not conducting an investigation, just answering questions obviously asked by the media. Learmonth is not exactly Heathrow and the local police and emergency services would have attended to give what ever assistance possible.

Current charts-0600Z today- are showing a westerly jet(300hPa) of around 110knots right across Australia,roughly Perth to Sydney.

Buckle Up
 

Thanks for this Another red Wine. Most intelligent comment in this debate so far. Its around 10% of passengers injured in some way, and as they are all at the rear of the plane sounds like the standard lengthy qeue for the washrooms. What else does anyone expect?

Yikes! I reckon the 45 deg nose-down attitude on the Brighton Beach Novotel in the background is rather more alarming. :rolleyes:

No, and it's not Oodnadatta or Windorah either. It is the airport selected by the Captain in his sole professional decision, at which he landed his aircraft with no loss of life or airframe.

As my post was deleted, for the person who asked, yes, it is QF SOP for pax AND crew to be seated whenever the SB sign is on. To the mods, this is NOT me speculating, I know this as fact as I used to operate on the Bus for QF...

So plainly if people were up and about it was unexpected.

CAT
 

Who's to say that the turbulance might have already been underway with everyone and everything supposedly "lashed down", seatbelt signs on, and suddenly intensified to an almost unmanagable level ?

It is standard procedure in Oz for the State Police (or the Feds in major ports once they've arm-wrestled control from the Staties) to assume command in any aircraft emergency, so as a Mayday was declared this would be following the protocol.

I'm not sure of the demarcation for any following investigation, but presumably the ATSB (Aviation Transport Safety Board) will take it on at some stage.

A380, A320 and It only took them about three guesses to get it right (just as well the "media" don't fly these aircraft!)

Seriously though...Best wishes to all involved, BUT this is why I always wear my seat belt in-flight.

No doubt those great people in the Ops Department (including the crew) at National Jet Systems did another great job on the recovery plan to get the 717 up there!

Flight was due in Perth at 2:30 but diverted and landed at 1:45 so good chance the SLF were starting to queue for the rear toilets for a "refresh" before landing hence reports that most casualties were at the back

Having done countless trips [over 25 years] across the USA, over the Rockies I never once had to attend hospital but many of my fellow passengers did because they refused/forgot to buckle up when in the cruise. If strapped in [loosely maybe] the chances of injury are fairly small and once the initial jerk attracts one's attention the buckle is tightened pretty quickly! Seeing a meal trolley fly up to the ceiling [with FA in attendance!] and then seeing the return journey knocking out a passenger [those trolleys are heavy!] and the FA break her pelvis, I have always strapped in when sitting. If it's good enough for the pilots, it's good enough for me!

Thanks for the info re Signs ON-CC buckle-up SOP, Little Red Hat. I think my outfit should do that too.

Lear's leap
 

One wonders if Learmount will comment on the landing at Learmonth...

another red wine pls
 

too much common sense there my friend.You'll need to beat it up a bit more. ;)
qantas are pretty good in the seatbelt dept, stricter than some asian carriers I've used on those legs. Folks in or waiting for the crapper, just stretching the legs or whatever could easily account for those numbers after a meal service and as said before being seated with a belt on does not preclude being hurt by flying bags trolleys catering or other pax.Even just being jolted around in a bad position while seated can hurt.

Gotta luv the media, its a 380 (not in service), a 320 (apparently with 200 or so travelling whilst standing) to finally a 330.
Never minds the facts just get the story out.

Hope all involved will be ok.Its a nasty shock being belted around like that even for crusty ol' veterans.(apparently:rolleyes:)

Any word on how the Exmouth hospital coped?
When I was there (within the last year) it was large, but pitifully understaffed.
My sister was turned away (with a painful, but non life threatening injury) because they were 'completely snowed under' i.e. one motorcycle crash victim, one premature labour and a diver who'd lost an argument with a moray eel :confused:

The local opinion was that one's last conscious words should be 'Fly me to Perth, now...'

This article says, among other things, that bone fractures cannot be treated at Exmouth, so those passengers will probably have to be flown to Perth by the Flying Doctor service:

Passengers injured in mid-air incident over Exmouth : thewest.com.au

The police will have absolutely no role to play in this investigation, State or Federal. The Australian Transport Safety Bureau will be running this investigation from the beginning, as per Annex 13.