Qantas A380 reliability issues creeping up again?

[DC3]

From all reports, both went to Victorville where they are currently being dismantled

 

[Cloud9]

At this point, Cloud9 puts on David Bowie's "Slow Burn" and laughs into a cheapo bottle of Martin's Shiraz which was points for nothing...

 

[jb747]

Pre-Joyce, you often saw aircraft in the air.

And he worked tirelessly to fix that problem.

 

[RSD]

And he worked tirelessly to fix that problem.

Bloody near succeeded too!

 

[RooFlyer]

Bloody near succeeded too!

Completely succeeded in 2011. Only took him three years.

 

[Sprucegoose]

I’m pretty sure that if you looked at the history of any aircraft, they’d have multiple diversions and other events.

How do you work out that it was a heavy landing?

The link is paywalled.

An incident involving a Qantas A380 which burst three tyres on landing at Singapore after turning back with a hydraulics issue will not be investigated because it was handled well by crew.
After gathering further information from Qantas, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau decided an investigation was not warranted as it was “a technical issue appropriately managed by pilots”.

The flight to London was in the air for just over two hours in total, after pilots received an alert about a potential hydraulics issue shortly after takeoff from Singapore late Sunday night.

The decision was made to return to Singapore and conduct a heavy landing, with three of the superjumbo’s 22 tyres blowing out on impact.

After disembarking passengers, a Qantas employee delivered a short address to inform them what happened.


Passenger Andrew Sward who was relocating from Australia to London with his young family, said the communication from pilots during the flight and on landing was “quite transparent and well-managed”.

“I can’t really fault them for how they handled the situation,” said Mr Sward.

“They arranged for all passengers to be put up overnight in various hotels and then individual arrangements were made for replacement flights.”

Qantas flight QF1 which returned to Singapore early Monday after a hydraulics issue and burst three tyres on landing. Picture: Flightradar24
A Qantas A380 pilot who did not want to be named said the aircraft was designed to taxi with as many as nine flat tyres and it was not considered a serious threat to safety.

“The tyres are filled with nitrogen because it’s incombustible and helps prevent a wheel fire,” said the pilot.

“They can withstand a maximum landing speed of 204 kts but they can deflate as a result of a high energy stop in a rejected takeoff situation or a heavy landing.”

Deflations, or tyre blowouts, were still considered quite rare with another A380 pilot saying he had not experienced one, other than in the simulator, in almost 16 years of flying.

Designed to withstand temperatures as high as 650 degrees Celsius on landing, A380 tyres were replaced in “every 60 or 70 landings”.

“So basically they’re replaced every month or so, they’re not like car tyres that last four or five years,” said the pilot.

The A380 involved in Sunday’s incident remained in Singapore awaiting inspection by engineers before returning to service.

As a result Qantas was forced to swap in other aircraft for the A380 registered VH-OQH — one of just six in operation currently as four underwent maintenance in Abu Dhabi.

Passengers on Sunday’s aborted flight to London were re-accommodated on other flights the next day.

A Qantas spokeswoman apologised to customers, and thanked them for their patience.

Qantas A380s carry up to 485 passengers.

 

[RSD]

From all reports, both went to Victorville where they are currently being dismantled

Maybe we all might need to keep an eye out on our travels for A380's that are hibernating and drop some hints to Qantas... anyone been through BKK lately to see if the Thai ones are still parked up?

 

[RSD]

An incident involving a Qantas A380 which burst three tyres on landing at Singapore after turning back with a hydraulics issue will not be investigated because it was handled well by crew.
After gathering further information from Qantas, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau decided an investigation was not warranted as it was “a technical issue appropriately managed by pilots”.

The flight to London was in the air for just over two hours in total, after pilots received an alert about a potential hydraulics issue shortly after takeoff from Singapore late Sunday night.

The decision was made to return to Singapore and conduct a heavy landing, with three of the superjumbo’s 22 tyres blowing out on impact.

After disembarking passengers, a Qantas employee delivered a short address to inform them what happened.


Passenger Andrew Sward who was relocating from Australia to London with his young family, said the communication from pilots during the flight and on landing was “quite transparent and well-managed”.

“I can’t really fault them for how they handled the situation,” said Mr Sward.

“They arranged for all passengers to be put up overnight in various hotels and then individual arrangements were made for replacement flights.”

Qantas flight QF1 which returned to Singapore early Monday after a hydraulics issue and burst three tyres on landing. Picture: Flightradar24
A Qantas A380 pilot who did not want to be named said the aircraft was designed to taxi with as many as nine flat tyres and it was not considered a serious threat to safety.

“The tyres are filled with nitrogen because it’s incombustible and helps prevent a wheel fire,” said the pilot.

“They can withstand a maximum landing speed of 204 kts but they can deflate as a result of a high energy stop in a rejected takeoff situation or a heavy landing.”

Deflations, or tyre blowouts, were still considered quite rare with another A380 pilot saying he had not experienced one, other than in the simulator, in almost 16 years of flying.

Designed to withstand temperatures as high as 650 degrees Celsius on landing, A380 tyres were replaced in “every 60 or 70 landings”.

“So basically they’re replaced every month or so, they’re not like car tyres that last four or five years,” said the pilot.

The A380 involved in Sunday’s incident remained in Singapore awaiting inspection by engineers before returning to service.

As a result Qantas was forced to swap in other aircraft for the A380 registered VH-OQH — one of just six in operation currently as four underwent maintenance in Abu Dhabi.

Passengers on Sunday’s aborted flight to London were re-accommodated on other flights the next day.

A Qantas spokeswoman apologised to customers, and thanked them for their patience.

Qantas A380s carry up to 485 passengers.

Whatever the exact hydraulics issue was it looks like the issue became apparent just after take off.

 

[RooFlyer]

As a result Qantas was forced to swap in other aircraft for the A380 registered VH-OQH — one of just six in operation currently as four underwent maintenance in Abu Dhabi.

Again, contrasting with what VH said recently. Perhaps she was being a bit economical with the truth ...

 

[jase05]

Maybe we all might need to keep an eye out on our travels for A380's that are hibernating and drop some hints to Qantas... anyone been through BKK lately to see if the Thai ones are still parked up?

I didn’t see any a few months ago at BKK.
MH had one hibernating at KUL last time I was there but I believe that was sold/scrapped

 

[RSVKanga]

drop some hints to Qantas

Thing is, is it really worth it to buy 2-3 ex-TG A380s and spend a lot on refurbishing and repainting them into QF seats and colours (which would take quite some time)

 

[RSD]

I didn’t see any a few months ago at BKK.
MH had one hibernating at KUL last time I was there but I believe that was sold/scrapped

All sorts of aircraft seemed to be parked up gathering dust at CAI - no A380's though.

 

[RSD]

Thing is, is it really worth it to buy 2-3 ex-TG A380s and spend a lot on refurbishing and repainting them into QF seats and colours (which would take quite some time)

Probably not - but that hasn't stopped them leasing Finnair aircraft and running those in Finnair colours/seats and crew though - so nothing really stopping them using those TG ones in Thai colours with Thai seats etc and QF crews... depends on whether they want to solve the problems... or not... even if they leased one from Thai and used that for the Joburg run when that goes to A380's then it free up an A380 for the QF 1/2 and 11/12 pool etc.

 

[Himeno]

I didn’t see any a few months ago at BKK.
MH had one hibernating at KUL last time I was there but I believe that was sold/scrapped

I was on QF32 LHR-SIN one trip (one of my last LONE4s) which diverted to KUL due to weather in SIN.
While we were sitting at a remote stand waiting for the weather to clear and the paperwork to be processed, lots of MH ground crew got buses out to the remote stand to take photos. It was shortly before MH got their A380s.

Quite quick, given a reasonable life time of an average commercial aircraft, for an airline to go from excited ground crew not able to wait to see a 380 at KUL to the airline getting rid of them.

 

[RSD]

I was on QF32 LHR-SIN one trip (one of my last LONE4s) which diverted to KUL due to weather in SIN.
While we were sitting at a remote stand waiting for the weather to clear and the paperwork to be processed, lots of MH ground crew got buses out to the remote stand to take photos. It was shortly before MH got their A380s.

Quite quick, given a reasonable life time of an average commercial aircraft, for an airline to go from excited ground crew not able to wait to see a 380 at KUL to the airline getting rid of them.

The A380 has been a love them or loathe them thing for airlines, they have been good for some like QF and EK, and others just haven't been able to get them to fit properly - but there aren't any real alternatives for a four class 450+ passenger aircraft like EK and QF have a need for. And if QF like I am ever going to fly in Y in a skinny seat on a 787 well that just isn't going to happen!

 

[Sprucegoose]

I believe the aircraft is still in Singapore or it was a few days ago?

 

[elanshin]

I believe the aircraft is still in Singapore or it was a few days ago?

It's back in action already. Currently at LHR after operating as QF1.

 

[jb747]

Looking at the FR24 trace, the issue has become evident after completing the clean up. The hydraulics do a lot of work during that phase, so if something is going to break, it’s a likely time. It’s not necessarily all that big an event, given that the aircraft is clean, and you won’t need any heavy work done until you reach the approach at the other end of the flight. Unlike the 747, which had 4 systems, the 380 only has two….but it can actually lose both of them and still fly normally. A 747 without hydraulics doesn’t fly. That’s because it uses multiple electro hydraulic power packs across the controls, which gives great redundancy.

I’ll have a look at the manual tomorrow, and see if I can work out why they came back so quickly. They would have had a fair bit of fuel that they could dump, but they don’t seem to have taken enough time to do so. Overweight (not heavy) landings always have the potential to burst tyres, but I wonder whether some of the bogies were in an alternate anti skid mode. That would increase the chances, and can be a consequence of some hydraulic issues.

 

[RSD]

Looking at the FR24 trace, the issue has become evident after completing the clean up. The hydraulics do a lot of work during that phase, so if something is going to break, it’s a likely time. It’s not necessarily all that big an event, given that the aircraft is clean, and you won’t need any heavy work done until you reach the approach at the other end of the flight. Unlike the 747, which had 4 systems, the 380 only has two….but it can actually lose both of them and still fly normally. A 747 without hydraulics doesn’t fly. That’s because it uses multiple electro hydraulic power packs across the controls, which gives great redundancy.

I’ll have a look at the manual tomorrow, and see if I can work out why they came back so quickly. They would have had a fair bit of fuel that they could dump, but they don’t seem to have taken enough time to do so. Overweight (not heavy) landings always have the potential to burst tyres, but I wonder whether some of the bogies were in an alternate anti skid mode. That would increase the chances, and can be a consequence of some hydraulic issues.

From your description it seems like something was really concerning them or else they would have continued to dump fuel for a while longer. Will be interesting to see what you can deduce from the manual. Would a take off for a SIN-LHR flight be usually done about right on the maximum take off weight?

 

[exLXCXFF]

anyone been through BKK lately to see if the Thai ones are still parked up?

Yes - it’s a very sad picture