Qantas Delays/Cancellations

[Melburnian1]

Also on Tuesday 2 January, QF63 has been delayed an hour to an expected 1235 in its departure from SYD to JNB.

The 1755 hours SYD - SFO should depart at 1920, as it has to await the arrival of QF64 that is arriving at 1730, 120 minutes late.

A third B744, QF15 from BNE to LAX should depart at 2200 tonight instead of 1120 this morning, an 11 hour delay. Note milehighclub's comment above re B744 VH-OJU 'ferrying' (empty running) from HNL down to BNE: it took off at 1500 HNL time and should be at the BNE gate at 1934 this evening.

One assumes that this will mean the cancellation of transcon. 2 January 2018 USA flights (LAX - JFK and return.)

QF got out of these troubles fairly lightly as a couple of flights did not operate on 31 December 2017 if I recall. Nonetheless the continuing problems with the B744 fleet are not good, although many don't get reported by the ófficial' media. Even the 27 December fuel dumping and return to LAX of VH-OJU on QF16 did not rate a mention.

UPDATE: QF63 departed SYD at 1243.

 

[jb747]

You do realise that the 'nearby' 74 is about 700 miles away. Joining up, would not be a simple exercise, and would take a couple of thousand miles to accomplish. You can't just turn towards each other and do an intercept. For a start the fuel to do so will not be available.

Everything about the radar systems is duplicated, except for the antennae and pedestal...and they are items that are unlikely to be held in stores, as their failure rate is pretty well zero.

Once the radar fails, the seat belt signs will go on, and stay on. People will not be permitted to move unless there is sufficient vision to allow the pilots to see any weather...and of course that cant' happen if they are in cloud.

It is a rare journey across the Pacific in which you don't spend a fair bit of time 30-50 miles off track avoiding the nastier weather. Without radar your chances of flying into something interesting are quite high.

 

[Flyerqf]

Also on Tuesday 2 January, QF63 has been delayed an hour to an expected 1235 in its departure from SYD to JNB.

The 1755 hours SYD - SFO should depart at 1920, as it has to await the arrival of QF64 that is arriving at 1730, 120 minutes late.

A third B744, QF15 from BNE to LAX should depart at 2200 tonight instead of 1120 this morning, an 11 hour delay. Note milehighclub's comment above re B744 VH-OJU 'ferrying' (empty running) from HNL down to BNE this evening. One assumes that this will mean the cancellation of transcon. 2 January 2018 USA flights (LAX - JFK and return.)

Transcon 11/12 will be operated by the 744 that originated in SYD as QF11

 

[Flyerqf]

QF25 is delayed until 1435 tomorrow.

 

[jb747]

Flyerqf, the flight time from YVR to HNL looks to be six and a half hours, plus sign on duties. So yes, by 1120 by my quick back-of-the-envelope calculations, they'd be around the 18 - 19 hour mark. jb747, please correct me, but isn't the normal maximum hours of duty for QF flight crew 18 (although by agreement it can be extended to 20?)

Duty limits vary depending upon the crew structure. With a 'heavy' crew, then 20 hours would be the maximum the crew could extend to.

When in this sort of situation, you also consider the options of just pushing ahead to the time limit. You may not be able to reach you destination, but perhaps getting the aircraft to Nadi, NZ, or Brisbane. The closer you can get, the easier it is to fix.

 

[Flyerqf]

Category: | The Courier Mail

 

[Melburnian1]

Thank you Flyerqf. To avoid the paywall I typed in 'Qantas Courier Mail' and it appeared. The odds of two similar problems in the space of four or five days on one aircraft must be low.

The QF spokesman incorrectly claimed that B744 VH-OJU was on its way to SYD. That's incorrect. As noted above, it is about to land in BNE at approximately 1938 AEST as QF6002, and should then form a very much delayed QF15 to LAX where same day arrival is suggested as 1625 hours instead of the timetabled 0600 hours. Let's hope that passengers with any so-called 'thin route' (relatively infrequent flights) connections can reach their destination today USA time. It's not possible for businessmen and women on tight schedules, nor for all leisure travellers, but this sort of unpredictable delay (on any airline) is why many of us like to build in a day's margin before we "must" be in X or Y.

Also on 2 January, QF2035, the 1850 hours SYD - ARM that took off at 1938 with Q300 VH-SBT should arrive at 2042 hours, 32 minutes late.

The 1755 hours SYD - SFO (QF73) departed a little later than predicted, at 1951. Same day arrival is suggested as 1355 hours, 90 minutes behind time.

Due to the B744-operated redeye QF25 from SYD tonight up to HND being deferred until 1430 tomorrow afternoon and consequent arrival at 2205 not 0500 hours, the Wednesday 3 January QF26 redeye has been altered to depart HND at 2359 - a wise time given that hard as it may be for frequent travellers to understand, some travellers become confused with an '0000' time and turn up on a different night - for estimated SYD Thursday 4 arrival at 1110 hours, 95 minutes late.

 

[JessicaTam]

Category: | The Courier Mail

Some text from the article:

AN AGEING Qantas Boeing 747 covering the busy trans-Pacific route has caused two major flight diversions in five days.

The latest incident involved QF76, a Boeing 747 which can carry 384 passengers, which was forced to make and unscheduled landing in Honolulu on New Years Eve six hours into its journey.

Passengers told the Courier Mail the pilot had announced that the weather radar was malfunctioning, telling them it wasn’t safe to continue to Sydney.

 

[Melburnian1]

I re-read the 'Courier Mail' article. It's not sensationalist in tone, as to be that it might have emphasised the fuel dumping that had to occur before VH-OJU returned to LAX a few days ago.

Looks like a passenger emailed or telephoned the newspaper, as it hasn't appeared for 36 hours or so after the most recent incident.

While overall they do a very good job - quite amazing - on occasion as Himeno noted, the flight tracking websites can become 'confused.' Tonight, FR24 is showing VH-OJU on the 3 January 2018 QF15 BNE to LAX when it's actually on tonight's (2 January) same flight. Not sure why this incorrect information is published by FR24: does it misunderstand airline feeds and assume that it must be about a flight scheduled into the future? Do FR24 staff have to manually correct these errors, or does that occur once an aircraft has pushed back or is cruising?

 

[Melburnian1]

The delayed Tuesday 2 January 2018 QF15 from BNE has been further put back to an expected 2230 hours departure for a same day 1645 hours arrival in LAX - not a bad schedule for leisure travellers who are not connecting elsewhere. In theory this leaves plenty of time for the aircraft to come back as either QF16 or QF2 to BNE/SYD respectively.

 

[Melburnian1]

On Tuesday 2 January, the beleaguered B744 VH-OJU departed on QF15 from BNE at 2325 hours, 725 minutes late. LAX arrival is suggested as 1615 instead of 0610 hours.

Wednesday 3 has QF12 expected to arrive ex LAX in SYD at 1047, 137 minutes late. QF16 into BNE should be there at 0857, 102 minutes behind the schedule. As quite often occurs, QF94 was punctual (actually about four minutes early arriving in MEL).

Tuesday 2's QF28 departed SCL in Chile only a quarter of an hour late at 1350 hours but Wednesday 3 SYD arrival is suggested as 1830, 50 late.

 

[Melburnian1]

Continuing with Wednesday 3 January 2018, the mostly punctual QF79 from MEL to NRT departed 51 late at 1011. predicted arrival is at 1831, 46 minutes tardy.

 

[Flyerqf]

QF25D is delayed further to 1530

 

[Melburnian1]

QF29 on Wednesday 3 January departed 68 late at 1053, so HKG arrival is delayed until 1653 hours local time this late afternoon, 38 late.

B744 VH-OJS on the overnight delayed QF25D took off at 1530 so arrival in HND should be roughly 2248 instead of the usual 0500 hours.The QF website is not showing QF26 tonight back down to SYD at all - there's no indication that it is operating, or has been cancelled. Wouldn't curfews be a problem if a passenger plane was endeavouring to become airborne at say 0030 tomorrow morning?

 

[Himeno]

B744 VH-OJS on the overnight delayed QF25D took off at 1530 so arrival in HND should be roughly 2248 instead of the usual 0500 hours.The QF website is not showing QF26 tonight back down to SYD at all - there's no indication that it is operating, or has been cancelled. Wouldn't curfews be a problem if a passenger plane was endeavouring to become airborne at say 0030 tomorrow morning?

Yesterdays QF25 is expected to arrived at HND at 2326 tonight, where it will then turn around to operate tonight's QF26. Today's QF25 is still scheduled, and would operated tomorrows QF26.
HND has no curfew (though NRT does), however the HND-AU flights can only arrive/depart HND between 2200 and 0600.
The only curfew that would impact the HND flights are in SYD, with a late QF25 missing the 2300 SYD curfew.

 

[Melburnian1]

Earlier on 3 January 2018, QF97 (0940 hours BNE up to HKG) departed 55 minutes late; arrival should be at about 1720, 50 late.

After arriving this morning 44 minutes late at 0649 on QF8 ex DFW, QF1 (1655 hours SYD - DXB) unusually departed 127 minutes tardy at 1852 hours, meaning DXB arrival estimated at 0140 hours on Thursday 4, an hour behind time. LHR arrival may only be slightly late if the intermediate stop duration can be reduced, which is often possible.

 

[Melburnian1]

Tuesday 2 January's QF12 ex JFK arrived in LAX at 2051, four minutes early - unusual but a good performance. However the connecting QF12 did not depart until 2357 hours, 87 minutes late, so Thursday 4 arrival is likely at 0918 hours, 48 minutes behind schedule.

The BNE-bound QF16 was similar, departing 91 late. Thursday 4 arrival should be at around the 0825 hours mark, 70 late.

 

[Melburnian1]

Yesterdays QF25 is expected to arrived at HND at 2326 tonight, where it will then turn around to operate tonight's QF26. Today's QF

Himeno, you may have been looking at a FR24 map of the aircraft enroute, as other sources showed an earlier projected arrival. QF25D ended up arriving in HND at 2247 hours, and QF26 departing on Thursday 4 January at 0035. SYD arrival is expected at 1128 hours, 113 minutes late.

 

[Melburnian1]

On Thursday 4 January, QF63 is delayed in its SYD departure from 1135 to a suggested 1230 with JNB arrival at 1710, 35 late. This will at least marginally delay the returning QF64 redeye.

 

[Flyerqf]

On Thursday 4 January, QF63 is delayed in its SYD departure from 1135 to a suggested 1230 with JNB arrival at 1710, 35 late. This will at least marginally delay the returning QF64 redeye.

Looks like it pushed back around 1.5 hrs ago but it still yet to depart Sydney.