purplegez
Junior Member
- Joined
- Feb 16, 2009
- Posts
- 48
The following article explains my questions..........
"Jet low on fuel sparked mayday call at Perth
23rd August 2007, 6:00 WST
A Qantas jet running low on fuel issued a rare mayday call after aborting two landing attempts at Perth Airport last year, a report from the Australian Transport Safety Bureau has revealed.
The report, published this week, said a Qantas A330 flying from Singapore on September 16 ran into trouble when weather conditions in Perth changed unexpectedly while the jet was en route.
The crew had allowed enough fuel for an expected easy landing in Perth, but heavy fog moved in when the flight was halfway to its destination, drastically reducing visibility.
The crew attempted to land at Perth twice before taking the drastic decision to carry out an autoland, essentially a landing using a computerised automatic pilot.
Perth is not rated for jets to carry out an autoland as it does not have the sophisticated computer equipment needed to guide aircraft in.
It was on the final approach that the Qantas flight issued the mayday, warning they were coming in on autoland with very limited visibility and little fuel left to circle and wait for the fog to clear.
“The crew calculated that at the completion of the approach the aircraft would have about 30 minutes margin over the minimum fuel reserves,” the ATSB report said.
“Based on the lack of alternatives and the intention to conduct an approach below minima, the crew transmitted a mayday to air traffic control.”
The ATSB said the landing was normal. The report praised the actions of the crew but used the incident as a warning to airlines that they must carry as much fuel as possible to allow jets to divert to another airport in similar emergencies.
The only other runway big enough in WA to take the A330 was Learmonth, 1110km from Perth, but the plane had passed the point where it had enough fuel to divert to the RAAF base near Exmouth.
Qantas chief pilot Chris Manning said the airline had accepted the ATSB recommendations and had changed fuel requirements for all flights into Perth when bad weather was forecast "
I was aboard this flight and was unaware of the "MAYDAY" call until reading about it in the newspaper some months later. :shock:
My questions are:
1. Is Perth now rated for an 'autoland'? (and if not, is it planned to be upgraded?)
2. Does Melbourne or Sydney airport have this facility? (more likely to be foggy there than sunny old Perth). I was on a flight that had two or three attempts at landing in fog at Melbourne and then was diverted to land at Sydney - this was at least 7 or 8 years ago.
"Jet low on fuel sparked mayday call at Perth
23rd August 2007, 6:00 WST
A Qantas jet running low on fuel issued a rare mayday call after aborting two landing attempts at Perth Airport last year, a report from the Australian Transport Safety Bureau has revealed.
The report, published this week, said a Qantas A330 flying from Singapore on September 16 ran into trouble when weather conditions in Perth changed unexpectedly while the jet was en route.
The crew had allowed enough fuel for an expected easy landing in Perth, but heavy fog moved in when the flight was halfway to its destination, drastically reducing visibility.
The crew attempted to land at Perth twice before taking the drastic decision to carry out an autoland, essentially a landing using a computerised automatic pilot.
Perth is not rated for jets to carry out an autoland as it does not have the sophisticated computer equipment needed to guide aircraft in.
It was on the final approach that the Qantas flight issued the mayday, warning they were coming in on autoland with very limited visibility and little fuel left to circle and wait for the fog to clear.
“The crew calculated that at the completion of the approach the aircraft would have about 30 minutes margin over the minimum fuel reserves,” the ATSB report said.
“Based on the lack of alternatives and the intention to conduct an approach below minima, the crew transmitted a mayday to air traffic control.”
The ATSB said the landing was normal. The report praised the actions of the crew but used the incident as a warning to airlines that they must carry as much fuel as possible to allow jets to divert to another airport in similar emergencies.
The only other runway big enough in WA to take the A330 was Learmonth, 1110km from Perth, but the plane had passed the point where it had enough fuel to divert to the RAAF base near Exmouth.
Qantas chief pilot Chris Manning said the airline had accepted the ATSB recommendations and had changed fuel requirements for all flights into Perth when bad weather was forecast "
I was aboard this flight and was unaware of the "MAYDAY" call until reading about it in the newspaper some months later. :shock:
My questions are:
1. Is Perth now rated for an 'autoland'? (and if not, is it planned to be upgraded?)
2. Does Melbourne or Sydney airport have this facility? (more likely to be foggy there than sunny old Perth). I was on a flight that had two or three attempts at landing in fog at Melbourne and then was diverted to land at Sydney - this was at least 7 or 8 years ago.
