Qf31 / Would We Hear About This If It Was SQ? [merged threads]

[htchapman]

Seven News just reported QF 31 SIN-LHR has diverted to Germany due to technical difficulties.

[sydbloke]

Anyone want to take a punt on what the NoNews Ltd. headline title will be?

[htchapman]

Qantas flight suffers engine trouble



A Qantas flight from Singapore to London has landed in the German city of Frankfurt after a vibration caused the crew to shut down one of its engines.
The Boeing 747-400 aircraft, carrying a Qantas flight crew and 350 passengers, landed at Frankfurt en route to London on Sunday afternoon (AEST) "due to the captain being alerted to a vibration in one of the engines," a Qantas spokeswoman said.
"As is standard procedure the engine was shut down," she said.
"There was no safety issue at any time and the aircraft continued to Frankfurt, where it landed without incident."
Qantas engineers are investigating the cause of the engine problem.
Passengers were diverted to other carriers, either flying direct to London or to other European destinations "with what we expect will be a minimum of delay", the spokeswoman said.


LIVENEWS.com.au > News > Qantas flight suffers engine trouble

[laffer]

I know OZ-LHR is more than likely Qantas busiest route but surely it must be a concern for them that these problems, however minor or major, seem to be hitting this route every time? It is quite a competitive route, Qantas charge over the odds for passengers departing from OZ (compared to those coming from LHR) and as such I would have thought that QF could start to see some market share dip?

[Mal]

Originally Posted by sydbloke

Anyone want to take a punt on what the NoNews Ltd. headline title will be?

So far they've just reported the facts with no misleading headline or insinuations:

Obviously taken from the wire, and subject to 'hacks' later on!

Vibrating engine grounds Qantas plane | The Courier-Mail

Vibrating engine grounds Qantas plane
A QANTAS flight from Singapore to London has landed in the German city of Frankfurt after a vibration caused the crew to shut down one of its engines.
The Boeing 747-400 aircraft, carrying a Qantas flight crew and 350 passengers, landed at Frankfurt en route to London this afternoon (AEST) "due to the captain being alerted to a vibration in one of the engines," a Qantas spokeswoman said.
... (as per LiveNews article above)

[openseat]

At least they diverted.
There was that kerfuffle last year (I think) when the BA 747 from LAX to LHR that shut down an engine not long after take off and decided to continue flying.

[International Lady]

Qantas flight suffers engine trouble

20:13 AEST Sun Aug 31 2008
3 hours 20 minutes ago


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A Qantas flight has landed without incident in the German city of Frankfurt after its crew shut down an engine because of a vibration.
Qantas Flight 31 from Singapore to London diverted to Frankfurt Airport for repairs to the engine, landing about 3.15pm (AEST) on Sunday, a Qantas spokeswoman confirmed.
The Boeing 747-400 aircraft diverted "due to the captain being alerted to a vibration in one of the engines," a Qantas spokeswoman said.
"As is standard procedure the engine was shut down," she said.
"There was no safety issue at any time and the aircraft continued to Frankfurt, where it landed without incident."
Qantas engineers are investigating the cause of the engine problem.
Passengers were diverted to other carriers, either flying direct to London or to other European destinations "with what we expect will be a minimum of delay", the spokeswoman said.
Frankfurt Airport duty manager Tino Ross told AAP the landing was "not an emergency".
"It was a technical landing," he said.
"There was a problem with engine four and the pilot decided to come into Frankfurt to repair the engine.
"There was no incident on landing."
The incident is the latest in a spate of mechanical problems affecting the Qantas fleet.
On July 25, a faulty oxygen bottle blew a hole in the fuselage of a Qantas Boeing 747-400 flying from Hong Kong to Melbourne.
The blast caused the aircraft, with 365 people on board, to depressurise and it rapidly descended several thousand feet before making an emergency landing in Manila.
On July 29, a Adelaide-Melbourne flight returned to Adelaide when a wheel bay door failed to close, while a hydraulic fluid leak forced a Boeing 767 to return to Sydney.
Hydraulics caused a flight to be delayed almost three hours in Sydney on August 4.
Three days later, a noisy air-conditioning fault forced the grounding of a jet that had recently returned from routine maintenance in Malaysia with 95 defects.
Then on August 12, Qantas announced it would temporarily pull six Boeing 737-400s from service after discovering an irregularity in maintenance paperwork.
On August 13, a Qantas Boeing 747-300 from Melbourne was grounded in New Zealand after an engine shut down on approach to Auckland.
On the same day, Qantas flight QF31 to London - the same flight affected by the incident - was delayed because a crucial screw needed urgent maintenance, while a Boeing 767 jet had a hydraulic failure that affected the plane's steering as it landed at Sydney on a flight from Melbourne.
The plane left a trail of hydraulic fluid as it touched down, forcing the runway to close for 40 minutes as the spill was mopped up.
Two days later, on August 15, a technical problem delayed a Brisbane to Melbourne flight for more than 30 minutes, while a small body panel fell from a Qantas jumbo en route to Singapore from Melbourne.
On August 17, a rudder problem delayed the departure of a Sydney-bound plane at London's Heathrow Airport by more than 16 hours.
Three days later, two flights were cancelled between Perth and Sydney and Perth and Melbourne because of technical problems.
The Civil Aviation Safety Authority has established a team to examine issues including maintenance and safety systems at Qantas.

[straitman]

Shutting down one of four engines on a 747 is not all that uncommon really

[Sprucegoose]

Originally Posted by straitman

Shutting down one of four engines on a 747 is not all that uncommon really

Quite so. In Jetstreams it is quite common operationally to shut a 747 engine down.

[NM]

Originally Posted by straitman

Shutting down one of four engines on a 747 is not all that uncommon really

At least the QF captain decided to land at FRA to have it fixed. This is different from the BA 'incident" a while back where an engine was shut down departing LAX and they chose to continue to LHR and ended up with a "fuel situation" over central England.