Aviation News

Emirates A340 fill with smoke

jetstar123 — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 07:42:28 +0000

Fumes force Air Emirates airbus to make emergency landing

October 16, 2008

FUMES could be smelt in the cabin of an Air Emirates flight to Dubai before it returned to Perth and made an emergency landing, passengers said.

An A340-500 Airbus, with 122 passengers aboard, landed safely at Perth International Airport at 8.50am (WST) today after leaving for Dubai almost two-and-a-half hours earlier.

“Smoke was not smelt by most passengers in the plane but airline staff checked cabin luggage to try and find where the smell was coming from,” Mr Chaney said.

“He (the pilot) was about to cross the coast and said, ‘I’m not prepared to risk it, we’re going to prepare to return the Perth’,” Peter said.

A hostess had told passengers they were looking for fire equipment.

“The captain did a good job I would say,” Mr Chopra said.

“He made the decision to come to Perth rather than fly over the Indian Ocean.”

Emirates said in a statement that the decision to return was a precautionary measure.

“As is usual in this type of situation, emergency services were activated as per standard procedure but were not required,” it said.

“Safety was not compromised at any point.”

Aircraft engineers were investigating the cause of the smell, it said.

Passengers were processed through customs and immigration before either being sent home or accommodated in hotels until the next available flight.

“She said there was nothing to worry about but the way they were running in the plane, along with the supervisor … everyone was running and it raised the bells,” Mr Chopra said.

He said he was thinking about the Qantas flight last week, in which 70 passengers were injured when a Perth-bound aircraft plunged hundreds of feet, and that other passengers may have had similar thoughts.

“The way he handled it was absolutely brilliant … his professionalism and positive approach … I don’t think people were overly worried.”

But Perth man Sunny Chopra said cabin crew had triggered some panic among passengers when they “started running around the plane”.

Mr Chopra said he could not smell any smoke where he was seated at the rear of the plane and passengers around him said the same.

“It was all very well organised … the pilot said the plane was operating normally and the plane was coming back as a precaution,” he said.

Perth woman Tracey Corp said there had definitely been a burning smell in the cabin of the aircraft.

“When we landed that’s when you could really smell it,” Ms Corp said.

A man who wanted to be known only as Peter, of Perth, said the smell of fumes had been “quite strong”.

“At first I couldn’t smell it but by the end you could,” he said.

“It was chemical-type fumes smell … almost an overheating type smell.”

He said he was asleep and woke to the pilot’s message that there was a smell of fumes in the galley area.

Air Emirates said in a statement that contrary to some media reports, there had been no smoke in the cockpit or the cabin of the aircraft.

But passengers said they had detected a strong smell of fumes.

Former Wesfarmers managing director Michael Chaney said there was “a bit of smoke in the cabin” before the pilot announced the plane was returning to Perth.

Go to photo gallery

Go to downloads page

Watch the video related to this story

Latest video: Qantas A380 landing in Sydney on maiden flight on September 21st 2008

Toothbrush stabbing grounds Jetstar plane

jetstar123 — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 08:14:39 +0000

Toothbrush stabbing grounds Jetstar plane

A Jetstar plane leaving Darwin was reportedly forced to turn around and land when a passenger stabbed himself with a weapon made from a toothbrush.

The man was bleeding heavily and had to be restrained by the plane’s cabin crew, the Northern Territory News reports.

“They called for the restraint kit,” the newspaper quotes a witness named Adam as saying.

“There was blood everywhere,” he said.

“They tied him up, restrained him, turned around … they didn’t give us any information.”

A Jetstar spokeswoman Simone Pregellio told the newspaper the captain had made the decision to turn the Friday morning fight around to protect the safety of his passengers.

“It was a serious situation,” she said.

“Our crew are trained to prepare for all sorts of different situations.”

Ms Pregellio confirmed the passenger had made the weapon out of the base of a toothbrush.

Jetstar CEO to replace Qantas CEO

jetstar123 — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 08:26:17 +0000

Jetstar chief Alan Joyce will take over as CEO of the Qantas Group in November when Geoff Dixon retires.

Joyce will assume the role as CEO designate effective July 28, with the CEO appointment to take effect from November 28, Qantas board chairman Leigh Clifford announced. Over the coming months, Joyce and Dixon will work together to ensure a smooth handover.

“Alan is, we believe, the best person to take Qantas forward in what is a very challenging environment,” said Clifford in a July 28 statement. “He will be ably supported by what the board and I regard as a very talented team of

managers throughout the Qantas Group.”

Joyce was widely tipped to take the CEO role over other key internal candidates including CFO Peter Gregg and Qantas EGM John Borghetti.

Jetstar has not yet named a replacement yet for Joyce’s role as CEO of the low cost carrier, but likely candidates include its GGM programs Gerard Turner or GGM Commercial Bruce Buchanan. From www.australianaviation.com.au

Alan Joyce (left) has been appointed to replace Geoff Dixon (right) as the CEO of Qantas. (Gerard Frawley)

Emirates takes delivery of first A380

jetstar123 — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 08:21:22 +0000

Emirates has become the second airline to take delivery of the Airbus A380, with the giant airliner entering service on August 1 with a promotional service from Dubai to New York JFK.
Emirates took delivery of its first A380, MSN 011, at Airbus’s Jurgen Thomas A380 Delivery Centre in Hamburg on July 28, from where it flew direct to Dubai . The aircraft was delivered in a configuration of 14 first class, 76 business and 399 economy class seats, and features two first class showers. The aircraft is the first to be powered by Engine Alliance GP7200 engines to enter service, and is the first of 58 the carrier has on firm order.
The A380 then entered revenue service on August 1, carrying 489 passengers on the 12 and a half hour flight to New York ’s JFK airport, marking the first revenue service by an A380 to North America . As more A380s arrive, Emirates intends to use the aircraft on services from Dubai to London from December and Sydney and Auckland from February 2009. This story taken from www.australianaviation.com.au

First 767 with winglits flies

jetstar123 — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 09:08:33 +0000

The first Boeing 767 retrofitted with Aviation Partners Boeing winglets made its first flight on July 20.

The flight was made on an American Airlines 767-300ER as part of a ferry flight from Kansas City where the winglets were fitted by AA engineers, to San Bernardino, California, where the aircraft will undertake certification and performance testing. FAA and EASA certification is expected to be achieved in November with entry into service in December.

“The 767-300ER Blended Winglet program launch has been our most successful to date,” said Aviation Partners Boeing’s President and CEO, John Reimers. “We are four months away from expected certification and already have firm commitments for over 130 systems from 10 different airlines. As a result, we are currently sold out of 767-300ER Blended Winglet Systems through November of 2009.”

APB claims that the 3.4m tall winglets will provide up to a 6.5 per cent fuel consumption saving.

This was from www.australianaviation.com.au

Hydraulic leak forces Qantas plane to turn back

jetstar123 — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 08:53:17 +0000

A Qantas 767 has been forced to turn around and make an emergency landing at Sydney Airport due to a hydraulic leak, the airline says.

The international flight bound for Manila took off at 1.20pm (AEST) and landed back at Sydney Airport about 3pm after air traffic controllers gave the pilot priority clearance to land.

A Qantas spokeswoman said Qantas flight QF19, a Boeing 767 300 with 200 passengers on board, “landed without incident after the captain became aware that the aircraft had a hydraulic leak”.

“On inspection, engineers determined that fluid was coming from the spoiler actuator that was not evident before departure,” the spokeswoman told AAP.

“There was no safety issue at any time.”

She said passengers would be placed on another aircraft which will depart Sydney for Manila at 5.30pm (AEST).

The 767 plane is being inspected by aircraft engineers.

An Air Services Australia spokesman said all passengers and crew were “fine”.

It comes a week after an explosion blew a hole in a Qantas jet flying from Hong Kong to Melbourne, forcing the plane to make an emergency landing in Manila.

Qantas was on Friday completing checks on oxygen bottles on its fleet of Boeing 747s.

Qantas plane makes emergency landing in Manilla

jetstar123 — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 08:38:36 +0000

Australian passengers have told of a terrifying mid-air emergency that left a gaping hole in the side of a Qantas plane, forcing an emergency landing in Manila.

The Qantas Boeing 747, en route from London to Melbourne, via Hong Kong, landed safely on Friday and a “gigantic” hole was discovered in the belly of the plane, near the wing.

Some of the 346 passengers on board told of debris flying through the depressurised cabin, and oxygen masks dropping from the ceiling. Some said the plane had plunged about 20,000 feet after a door “popped”.

“There was a terrific boom and bits of wood and debris just flew forward into first (class) and the oxygen masks dropped down,” Melbourne woman Dr June Kane told ABC Radio.

“I’m looking at the plane now and … just forward of the wing, there’s a gaping hole from the wing to the underbody,” she said, adding that baggage was hanging out.

“It was absolutely terrifying, but I have to say everyone was very calm.”

Qantas chief executive Geoff Dixon said the flight had “a hole in its fuselage” and was being inspected. None of the passengers nor the plane’s 19 crew were hurt, he said.

The Australian Transportation Safety Bureau (ATSB) and the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) had been notified of the incident, Dixon said.

CASA spokesman Peter Gibson told the ABC that initial reports indicated a problem with air pressure in the cabin.

Manila airport operations officer Ding Lima told local radio the plane lost cabin pressure shortly after takeoff from Hong Kong and the pilot radioed for an emergency landing.

“Upon disembarkation, there were some passengers who vomited. You can see in their faces that they were really scared,” he said.

During the emergency part of the plane’s flooring gave way, exposing some of the cargo in the hold, he said. Part of the ceiling also collapsed.

Another passenger Brendan McClements, the chief executive of the Victorian Major Events Company, described hearing a big bang as the plane flew out of Hong Kong.

“There was a sort of rapid expulsion of wind. It went out of the plane, the air got sucked out, the oxygen masks dropped down and we put them on,” he told AAP from Manila.

“Where I was sitting wasn’t ideal, by no means ideal.

“We landed about an hour or so ago, and there was a very large hole that wasn’t there when we took off in Hong Kong.”

McClements praised Qantas staff for keeping passengers calm.

“The crew were terrific, they did a great job,” he said.

“Everyone gave them a round of applause as we landed.”

British man Phil Rescall said he and other passengers realised how lucky they were when they saw the size of the hole in the plane’s underbelly just in front of the right wing.

“You see the hole and you realise we were very lucky,” he told AFP.

“Some people were crying, some people were pretty shaken when they saw the hole.”

Another English passenger, Robin McGeechan, 42, said that despite the bang there was little panic.

“We were told a door had popped. We only realised that there was a great big hole in the plane after we landed,” McGeechan said.

McClements said he was glad he didn’t see the hole in the plane until after they landed.

“Landing was a good thing,” he said.

“The captain flagged that we were going to take a very long, slow landing, so we used the whole runway, the emergency crews were out there to meet us and then they towed us in.

“When we walked out we were able to see the plane from the outside and there was a very large hole.

“I was very happy I saw that when I was on the ground and not when I was in the air.”

McClements said the passengers were calm when it happened.

“It was probably an hour out of Hong Kong, it all went bang and whoosh.

“And the oxygen masks dropped down and we tootled off to Manila as quickly as we could.

“It was back behind me, big, loud and noisy and very windy when the cabin presser depressed.

“Obviously when the initial bang happened there were a few looks cast across the aisles and backwards and forwards.

“But once people put their oxygen masks on, and crew did a terrific job of making sure people were calm around us, everyone was very even, everyone was very relaxed, that I saw.”

McClements said the plane descended after the bang.

“Someone else used the word plunged, but it was a very even decent to a level, as I understand it, where the cabin pressure was equalised.

“It didn’t worry me particularly, it never felt like it was out of control.”

He said he thought it had taken another hour or two to reach Manila after that.

“Qantas handled it brilliantly and all in all, I will be on the next plane as soon as they can get one to take me home.

“I don’t want to catch a cargo ship or anything like that.”