Lack of fuel forces Qantas jet to land in heavy fog

[NM]

One suspects that in a real emergency they would just put the plane down anywhere it could be done, and worry about how to get it out of there later.

As with any flight - Take-off is optional, landing is mandatory.

[ColinP]

One suspects that in a real emergency they would just put the plane down anywhere it could be done, and worry about how to get it out of there later.

Yes, I guess they would. Just like the pilots of the Gimli Glider did. I'm surprised it hasn't been mentioned yet.

[serfty]

I have not read the ATSB report, but saw something in Crikey today about it.

• The aircraft made two unsucsessful attempt to land,
• Called an emergency "Mayday", received permission for an "auto-land" and
• subsequently landed using this "Hands free" method.

More here: Crikey - Politics - "Mayday!" Qantas jet dices with ditching off Perth

[jpk]

Getting it out again may be an issue!

QF has managed to put a 747-200 and a 707-138 on the ground at Longreach, but without runway extensions, there they will stay. Of course, such one-ways are no unique to Longreach. There is a B52 and a Concorde sitting at Duxford (near Cambridge, north of London) that needed to stripped of all excess weight in order to land, and neither is ever going to fly out under their own steam.

there's some footage on youtube of SAA landing a 747SP at a museum airstrip for the final time, cos getting it in there was tight. the airstrip looked more like a paddock with a thing bit of bitchumen across it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ap_nyRzEOMI

[straitman]

But you don't require much more than 40 feet of "runway" to land and take-off. Or are you talking about a previous life .

Previous life flying orange & white dog whistles

[maninblack]

As with any flight - Take-off is optional, landing is mandatory.

I know I have posted it before but I just love this photo
Airliners.net Photos: Vaso Airlines Ilyushin Il-86

And into WLG's little 6300ft rwy. A regular service for a time in the 80's
Airliners.net Photos: Qantas Boeing 747SP-38

[oz_mark]

I know I have posted it before but I just love this photo
Airliners.net Photos: Vaso Airlines Ilyushin Il-86

And into WLG's little 6300ft rwy. A regular service for a time in the 80's
Airliners.net Photos: Qantas Boeing 747SP-38

Weren't SP's over powered little rockets? A feature not common to Airbus.

[jpk]

And into WLG's little 6300ft rwy. A regular service for a time in the 80's

how awesome does that little baby look! during all the recent talk about the new QF livery, i couldn't help but wish they would paint a 744 in the old QF style. it would look great and respect the past history of the company. i think *A airlines have to have 1 aircraft in a heritage livery don't they?

[Dave Noble]

i think *A airlines have to have 1 aircraft in a heritage livery don't they?

Not afaik. I believe that they have to have 1 aircraft in Star Alliance Livery

Dave

[NM]

I have not read the ATSB report, but saw something in Crikey today about it.

• The aircraft made two unsucsessful attempt to land,
• Called an emergency "Mayday", received permission for an "auto-land" and
• subsequently landed using this "Hands free" method.

It is my understanding that the procedure would have panned out as follows:

Fog was covering the airport and the aircraft descended using the nav aids down to the defined minima for the runway, but as the runway was not visible to the pilots, they were required to abort the landing and go around. This is an operational requirement when visibility is below the minima for the runway.

In order to be permitted to autoland when visibility is below the defined minima for the runway, an emergency condition must be declared. Hence the call of "Mayday" in order to change the situation to allow the aircraft to autoland on a runwayt where visibility is below the minima.

No aircraft is permitted to land on a runway where visibility is below the defined minima unless its an emergency. And its not an emergency unless "Mayday" is called. So the Mayday call was a formality to allow them to perform the landing under the low vis conditions.