Is Qantas having more incidents or has there just been more reporting of it?

[NM]

While I have the utmost faith in Qantas i have concerns about off shore service ,it is like a McDonalds for aircraft , fix them fast and move to the next Not good enough Mr CEO take a hit in your salary and get them serviced in Australia or New Zealand

Are you suggesting that Lufthansa Technic are not performing Qantas' A380 heavy maintenance to suitable standards? Is there any evidence that off-shore maintenance is the cause of any of the incidents that has resulted in Qantas making news headlines in the last month? I am not aware of anything that links the two - except for your post above.

 

[oz_mark]

Given that Rolls Royce have identified a faulty component in Trent 900 engines, the question might be why SQ and LH are still flying the A380. The fact that QF have grounded their A380 would make me believe that they were more cautious, and hence probably more safe than the competition. There is probably a story in that.

...and the ask why SQ aren't flying the to Australia.

 

[mannej]

One for the quality of nonews (I am being picky)

1957-Qantas planes | Qantas' most famous planes | World Travel Pictures, Australia Travel Pictures | Perth Now

Apparently QF got their first 747 in 1957

 

[drron]

While I have the utmost faith in Qantas i have concerns about off shore service ,it is like a McDonalds for aircraft , fix them fast and move to the next Not good enough Mr CEO take a hit in your salary and get them serviced in Australia or New Zealand

I'm sorry but you seemed to have swallowed the union's line.The majority of servicing is done in Australia.The majority of planes involved in recent incidents are serviced in Australia.The A380 was serviced in Germany-now you are not suggesting that German engineering is either cheap or of poor quality are you?

 

[nlagalle]

While I have the utmost faith in Qantas i have concerns about off shore service ,it is like a McDonalds for aircraft , fix them fast and move to the next Not good enough Mr CEO take a hit in your salary and get them serviced in Australia or New Zealand

Do you know that they will always have to have aircraft seviced offshore? And are you certain that they aren't up to the task? It's a bit of a wild statement to make..

 

[Nigelinoz]

Some interesting comments in this Crikey article.
The Anatomy of the Airbus A380 QF32 near disaster – Plane Talking

Reviewing these images makes it clear why Qantas was quick, and correct, in grounding its A380 fleet. The wing of the jet shows remarkable structural strength in sustaining damage that might have destroyed the airliners of earlier decades, but the questions as to whether control system revisions are necessary to deal with some of the consequences in terms of failed hydraulics and fuel imbalance are said to be very actively under consideration.
And the questions concerning the timeliness of the Rolls-Royce responses to a known problem, and its capacity and willingness to share them with the airlines concerned will not go away. If the engine maker doesn’t address them its customers will.

(Emphasis mine)

 

[maninblack]

Some interesting comments in this Crikey article.
The Anatomy of the Airbus A380 QF32 near disaster – Plane Talking
(Emphasis mine)

Ben Sandilands article is most interesting and so is his summary. I wonder how many future customers of the RR equipped A380 (those with builds not yet underway) may be thinking of switching their business to Engine Alliance.

 

[possumFF]

Actually, I think Qantas is coming out of this looking pretty good, although the balance sheet must be looking pretty ugly. Qantas pilots in particular are looking pretty good.
I am more interested in the downgrading of the safety culture amongst management (service before safety). I just question whether this a legacy of Dixon/ Jackson?

 

[Nigelinoz]

Ben Sandilands article is most interesting and so is his summary. I wonder how many future customers of the RR equipped A380 (those with builds not yet underway) may be thinking of switching their business to Engine Alliance.

I'm not normally a fan of Ben Sandilands but I think this article is pretty reasonable and I found the comments from Thomas Montagne and the diagrams and photos of the damage very interesting.

 

[rdb]

Maybe Qantas has had more incidents recently. While the A380 problem affects Qantas as far as I can see they have done nothing wrong with the engines being maintained by Rolls Royce and it is a RR problem but the wya it was reported immediately points as Qantas. I think the media, especially Murdoch is going out of its way to find everything they can get on Qantas to give it a bad name.
I don't hold with the rubbish that because of safety we need to be informed of these things. How many people die of doctor error, etc, in our hospitals and we never hear a word. It is nothing but pure malice from News Ltd.
I see someone said that BA getrs a bashing int he UK - unfortunately we don't get to hear how often major or minor airlines suffer at the hands of the media in other countries.
The media does have a lot to answer for, by its manipulation of the news or whatever opinion it likes to publish it can affect the viability of companies - an example being the negative attention given to Mitsubishi Motors in the last years before it closed down.

 

[TonyA]

It is not scare-mongering to report incidents that might have resulted in mid-air catastrophe. Especially as there have been several potentially major concerns lately. The Australian airline has an enviable safety record, which it markets well. Numerous recent events have raised the issue of whether the company is deliberately taking more risks.

QF management handled the A380 situation well. However, broad public resentment over the ways the company is being run in terms of customer satisfaction/experiences and employee morale/attitude has resulted in the fascination with the Flying Kangaroo's tarnished image at all levels of operation, including safety.

It's time for Qantas to wake up.

 

[samh004]

It is not scare-mongering to report incidents that might have resulted in mid-air catastrophe.

The recent engine failures, barring the A380 incident, are common as muck, as a look on The Aviation Herald will show you. Hardly catastrophic events. That’ll be the next headline!

 

[maninblack]

The recent engine failures, barring the A380 incident, are common as muck, as a look on The Aviation Herald will show you. Hardly catastrophic events. That’ll be the next headline!

Well...hmmm...no other major airline has had an uncontained engine failure in the past year (or 3), QF has had two this year. Irrespective of why and who etc, it's not a good look.

 

[mannej]

Well...hmmm...no other major airline has had an uncontained engine failure in the past year (or 3), QF has had two this year. Irrespective of why and who etc, it's not a good look.

You have to ask why before you can attribute blame. It may not be a good look agreed, but it is not a simple as that.

You may also want to check your facts regarding Uncontained engine failures. If you look at the RR Trent1000, there was in Emirates A330 in 06 http://www.avherald.com/h?article=3ea20c28&opt=0, AA had one on an MD83, There was a DL 777, Thai had one on their 747 earlier this year, WN had one on a 737 in 07. That list was compiled using a simple search on avherald.

 

[markis10]

You may also want to check your facts regarding Uncontained engine failures. If you look at the RR Trent1000, there was in Emirates A330 in 06 Incident: Emirates A330 at Dubai on October 17th 2006, suffered uncontained engine failure in flight, safe landing, AA had one on an MD83, There was a DL 777, Thai had one on their 747 earlier this year, WN had one on a 737 in 07. That list was compiled using a simple search on avherald.

I thought that was the case, while engine failures are not "common as muck"as such, they do happen, and there has been ongoing ADRs in relation to reducing the risk of an event in a variety of makes and models. Qantas operates its engines within manufacturers specs and gets the suppliers to service them, in that context I dont see why they are to blame for any issues if thats the case.

 

[maninblack]

You have to ask why before you can attribute blame. It may not be a good look agreed, but it is not a simple as that.

You may also want to check your facts regarding Uncontained engine failures. If you look at the RR Trent1000, there was in Emirates A330 in 06 Incident: Emirates A330 at Dubai on October 17th 2006, suffered uncontained engine failure in flight, safe landing, AA had one on an MD83, There was a DL 777, Thai had one on their 747 earlier this year, WN had one on a 737 in 07. That list was compiled using a simple search on avherald.

You are correct digging deeper into the reports. Thai this year and DL not in flight, but before that we go back 3 years it seems. We may like to deflect the blame but QF are ultimately responsible for the condition of their aircraft and have had 2 in one year and that's the fact (Jack):!:

 

[NM]

Well...hmmm...no other major airline has had an uncontained engine failure in the past year (or 3), QF has had two this year. Irrespective of why and who etc, it's not a good look.

May need to check your facts. Here are a few for the last 12 months that resulted from a simple search:

Korean 744 October 2010
Southern Air (MH) 742 at FRA September 2010
Thai 744 February 2010
Jett8 742 at SIN December 2009

And if going back three years, we can include;

Delta 772 at ATL Jan 2009
American MD83 March 2009
Delta 752 at LAS August 2008
South-West 733 November 2007

 

[mannej]

You are correct digging deeper into the reports. Thai this year and DL not in flight, but before that we go back 3 years it seems. We may like to deflect the blame but QF are ultimately responsible for the condition of their aircraft and have had 2 in one year and that's the fact (Jack):!:

I'm not Jack. I did a simple search. For all that we know there could have been and may well have been more.
Like I said, before you can attribute blame, you need to find out the facts first. It is not deflecting blame.

DL may not have been in flight, but it is still as dangerous if the fragment penetrates the fuselage.

 

[maninblack]

May need to check your facts. Here are a few for the last 12 months that resulted from a simple search:

Korean 744 October 2010
Southern Air (MH) 742 at FRA September 2010
Thai 744 February 2010
Jett8 742 at SIN December 2009

And if going back three years, we can include;

Delta 772 at ATL Jan 2009

You are correct on the others which I missed but Southern Air and Jett 8 are small freight airlines not major passenger carriers. Still QF's record comes in "Stone motherless last" (Bert Bryant) no matter how much we may dislike it or wish to blame the Murdoch media for past hype.

 

[maninblack]

DL may not have been in flight, but it is still as dangerous if the fragment penetrates the fuselage.

Yes a serious incident but not as bad as a Trent 900 blowing apart in mid-air, ripping giant holes in the aircraft, damaging control systems and hydraulics, rupturing fuel tanks and showering an Indonesian village with huge pieces of debris. Anyway...nuff said.