Qantas A380 reliability issues creeping up again?

[jb747]

Just at Changi - VH-OQH still sitting around and at least outside, no one working on Reginal Ansett. Btw, just realised that this is the same A380 that also did the Baku excursion around Xmas 2022.

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

Led to a heavy landing and blowing out a few tires.

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

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/aviation/a380s-built-to-withstand-busted-tyres-say-qantas-pilots-after-a-dramatic-landing-in-singapore/news-story/c1477db875b8d0ecdc98bbc90d4cc8b7

The link is paywalled.

 

[TheRealTMA]

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.

Try here

Qantas A380 tyre blowout ‘appropriately managed’, says ATSB

VH-OQH (pictured in Sydney last year) blew out three of its 22 tyres after it was forced to return to Changi Airport due to technical issues shortly after take-off of flight QF1 to London on 7 July.

australianaviation.com.au

 

[OATEK]

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

The link is paywalled.

I know, never trust what you read in a newspaper. But why have a go at me and not the reporter?

 

[jb747]

I know, never trust what you read in a newspaper. But why have a go at me and not the reporter?

Well, you put the quote up, and I can't read the original article.

It would have been an OVERWEIGHT landing. Which means that the landing weight was greater than the nominal max landing weight.

A HEAVY landing is one in which the flare in messed up in some way, so that the aircraft impacts the ground at greater than approximately 1.8G.

Overweight landings are relative non events, though loss of a tyre or three wouldn't be a surprise. A heavy landing can do a lot of damage, right up to writing off the aircraft.

 

[RooFlyer]

In a recent media interview, Vanessa Hudson is quoted as saying

Ms Hudson said that Qantas has two more A380s to be returned to service taking the fleet to 10 and these will come back into service early next year. When those two A380s rejoin the fleet they will free up other aircraft such as 787s and A330s and Ms Hudson said the airline is looking at Perth-Johannesburg and Perth-Auckland with the latter linking up with the airline’s Auckland-New York service.

Does this number of two to be returned to service tally with what's been discussed here, recently?

https://www.airlineratings.com/featured/qantas-sydney-to-london-nonstop-could-fly-over-the-north-pole/

 

[Cloud9]

Does this number of two to be returned to service tally with what's been discussed here, recently?

I thought it was three still due back.
Nevertheless - they're looking at pushing everything back to 100% capacity without any redundancy in the system, even once they're online... Some people will never learn.

 

[elanshin]

I thought it was three still due back.
Nevertheless - they're looking at pushing everything back to 100% capacity without any redundancy in the system, even once they're online... Some people will never learn.

I disagree with this statement. Airplanes are extremely expensive and parking them around is the opposite of efficient. I don't believe any airline runs around the world going "hey lets park a couple of planes here just in case" outside of exceptional circumstances.

Shareholders would be hounding the company if planes are parked around just in case and losing money.

 

[aus_flyer]

I disagree with this statement. Airplanes are extremely expensive and parking them around is the opposite of efficient. I don't believe any airline runs around the world going "hey lets park a couple of planes here just in case" outside of exceptional circumstances.

Shareholders would be hounding the company if planes are parked around just in case and losing money.

I think all airlines that have solid on time performance have some redundancy/buffer in the system.

 

[RSD]

I disagree with this statement. Airplanes are extremely expensive and parking them around is the opposite of efficient. I don't believe any airline runs around the world going "hey lets park a couple of planes here just in case" outside of exceptional circumstances.

Shareholders would be hounding the company if planes are parked around just in case and losing money.

Agree - having one extra A380 in Sydney would make the world of difference at the moment. I don't think that we can expect more than that.

 

[Cloud9]

I disagree with this statement. Airplanes are extremely expensive and parking them around is the opposite of efficient. I don't believe any airline runs around the world going "hey lets park a couple of planes here just in case" outside of exceptional circumstances.

Shareholders would be hounding the company if planes are parked around just in case and losing money.

It doesn't have to be a case of leaving the planes sat idle. But by building in even 12 hours of redundancy a day for one plane based in Sydney or Singapore, it could take the strain off of things pretty immensely.

Half a plane in a fleet of dozens of long hauls for a bit of redundancy hardly seems overkill to me. Especially when customer satisfaction is at an all time low.

And as a shareholder (admittedly an absolute minnow), there's a lot to be said for customer satisfaction, product reliability and dependability, and demonstrating a bit of common sense.

Edited to add: And I haven't seen much hounding by the shareholders for the fact the A380s have been parked at AUH for a flipping age, by the way.

 

[DC3]

Enjoying reading the posts by our QF CEOs-in-waiting. We AFFers certainly know how an airline should be run, especially the A380s.

 

[Cloud9]

Enjoying reading the posts by our QF CEOs-in-waiting. We AFFers certainly know how an airline should be run, especially the A380s.

I'd sooner have an engineer running an airline than a bean counter, pal!

 

[DC3]

I'd sooner have an engineer running an airline than a bean counter, pal!

I like the cut of your jib, pal!

 

[Cloud9]

I like the cut of your jib, pal.

I don't know if you're taking the proverbial or paying me a compliment.

If ever we bump heads in the Flounge, all the drinks are on me, my friend!

 

[RSVKanga]

Enjoying reading the posts by our QF CEOs-in-waiting. We AFFers certainly know how an airline should be run, especially the A380s.

While I agree with you that the 'reliability' things discussed in this thread are overblown (and can apply to any aircraft with any airline), I think even Qantas themselves deeply regret getting rid of those two A380s. A very myopic decision.

 

[Cloud9]

While I agree with you mostly, I think even Qantas themselves deeply regret getting rid of those two A380s. A very myopic decision.

Hardly. My prescription is 10 dioptres in each eye. I'm as myopic as you can damn well near get.

 

[RSD]

While I agree with you mostly, I think even Qantas themselves deeply regret getting rid of those two A380s. A very myopic decision.

I wonder how far dismantled those two are?

 

[RSVKanga]

I wonder how far dismantled those two are?

They're parted out beyond revival, with some substantial corrosion on the frame as well.

 

[RooFlyer]

They're parted out beyond revival, with some substantial corrosion on the frame as well.

Is that Victorville, or AUH?

 

[RSVKanga]

Is that Victorville, or AUH?

Victorville.