Wednesday, February 29, 2012

FED: Another Qantas plane grounded


AAP General News (Australia)
08-31-2008
FED: Another Qantas plane grounded

By Jamie Duncan

MELBOURNE, Aug 31 AAP - 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) today, 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 depressurize 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 today's
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.

AAP jrd/srp/cdh

KEYWORD: QANTAS DIVERT NIGHTLEAD

2008 AAP Information Services Pty Limited (AAP) or its Licensors.

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