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Three days after the in-flight depressurization of a Qantas Boeing 747, it was the turn of a Qantas 737 bound to Melbourne that had to return to Adelaide, after a door opened in flight. Flight QF692 landed safely, no one got hurt. The news was released by the AFP, and is relayed by skynews only by the time I’m writing this post.

I’m quite sure that most general audience media will jump on that occasion to make good results, particularly during a time of year which is not full of other news. An airline having two incidents within three days is the holy Grail of media, just like landing in London City is mine.

Is there a link between the two incidents ? It’s way too early to say anything. The investigations are just starting, and despite various rumors, no official, reliable information is available. The two aircraft were not of the same type (Boeing 737 vs. Boeing 747), and were not operating the same kind of flight (Domestic vs. Intercontinental).

Had the first incident not occured, would anyone mention the second one ? I don’t know how many planes come back to land daily, but given the total number of flights, there are probably a few dozen of them. So please, don’t take part in the propagation of silly rumors.

I feel like I’m constantly repeating myself here, but the only responsible attitude is to wait for the official reports. Because of the media pressure, and because commenting and making hypothesis is in human nature, it’s not easy to refrain. As a blogger, I could get much more visitors by claiming I know the truth about accidents, but that would be wrong, and morally arguable.

Be sure that I’ll wait for the reports, and comment them when they’ll be issued. Until that, 7600, if you see what I mean …

UPDATE: Click here to read the BBC coverage… not surprisingly, most of their online article refers to the first of the two incidents…

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Category: Air Accidents
Tags: Adelaide Boeing 737 comments emergency landing investigation media Melbourne Qantas QF692

A Qantas Boeing 747 flying the London - Hong-Kong - Melbourne route had to make an emergency landing in Manilla. The NTSB initial press release mentions: “The airplane, Qantas flight 30, a B747-400, en route to Melbourne, Australia from Hong Kong, landed safely in Manila at 11:15 am local time. There were no reported injuries among the 346 passengers and 19 crewmembers. The aircraft has a 5 foot hole in the cargo area forward of the right wing leading edge and there is also some wing damage.“.

The oxygen masks were released in the cabin, and the flight descended from Flight Level 290 (29′000 feet) to 10′000 feet and landed safely in Manilla. A video from the cabin is available on Reuters BBC websites (see link below), showing passengers wearing the masks, and the some pictures of the flight information screen displaying an altitude of 10′000 feet.

Some media reports talk about how the aircraft “plunged”. From a passenger point of view, and emergency descent is certainly impressive, but it does not means that the aircraft is out of control or will crash. The purpose of such expeditious descents is to descend to altitudes which provide enough oxygen to allow people to breath normally.

Click here to read more about the mysteries of pressurization.

Aircraft and procedures are designed to cope with such situations, and crews are trained accordingly. Nevertheless, kudos the the Qantas crew who handled it perfectly: the plane landed safely, no one got hurt, and there are no panic signs on the videos.

Regarding the causes, as always, one have to wait the conclusions of the investigation. The NTSB, FAA and Boeing sent experts to support the investigators.

External links:

BBC video, incuding passenger interview and in-cabin images

Reuters video, including in-cabin images

Coverage of that event by CNN, with video

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Category: Air Accidents
Tags: Boeing 747 depressurization Hong-Kong incident Manilla Melbourne Qantas QF30