QANTAS Explosive Decompression in Flight - Everyone OK

[SelectSys]

Had a bit more of a dig. Are you referring to the 743s that have gone out for 2-3 months at a time? They look like hajj leases to me.

 

You are correct, they are all 743's - EBV, EBW, EBY, and EBX. Your explanation makes total sense - Hajj pilgrams from Indonesia. EBY and EBX also went to JAL for a couple of years.

[MMDown Under]

Our news is reporting that the US Airlines were advised to check the cylinders several months ago.

[SelectSys]

Our news is reporting that the US Airlines were advised to check the cylinders several months ago.

 

That would be really odd for Boeing to only inform their US customers. I just can't imagine this when almost all 744's are flown by non-US airlines. I think only UA and NW are the only US airlines to operate 744's or 747's of any kind for that matter in passenger service.

[ohioNCLcruiser]

That would be really odd for Boeing to only inform their US customers. I just can't imagine this when almost all 744's are flown by non-US airlines. I think only UA and NW are the only US airlines to operate 744's or 747's of any kind for that matter in passenger service.

 

Correct!

 

My first 747 flight was on United from ORD-SFO. Sadly I really want to get to fly on the upper deck of one and I can't afford the international business class rates to do it so I was hoping United would put another domestic run on the 747 but none are planned right now and with several going to retirement the odds are very slim :( :(

[kenish]

Sadly I really want to get to fly on the upper deck of one and I can't afford the international business class rates to do it so I was hoping United would put another domestic run on the 747 but none are planned right now and with several going to retirement the odds are very slim :( :(

 

If you get to Japan, both JAL and ANA fly domestic 744's that are all coach seating (580-650 passengers)! You can reserve a seat on the upper deck; the only bad thing is the flights are only about an hour long.

 

It's a pretty amazing experience, they start boarding 15 minutes before departure and push back on time. Flights between major cities run every 30-60 minutes are usually chock full. I guess that's possible since Japan is half the population of the US with a land area similar to California.

[ohioNCLcruiser]

If you get to Japan, both JAL and ANA fly domestic 744's that are all coach seating (580-650 passengers)! You can reserve a seat on the upper deck; the only bad thing is the flights are only about an hour long.

 

It's a pretty amazing experience, they start boarding 15 minutes before departure and push back on time. Flights between major cities run every 30-60 minutes are usually chock full. I guess that's possible since Japan is half the population of the US with a land area similar to California.

 

I will actually look into it. Have you ever flown into Hong Kong's airport? It is..AMAZING!!

[M&A]

As a way of explanation of my beliefs -

 

Once my husband got sick in USA en route to Canada. We were so relieved when we got into Canada, as Canada has a better public health system than the USA.

 

Do we think Americans can't do the job as well as Canadians? Of course not, but I'd rather be sick in Canada than the USA, because their health system is better for visiting foreigners.

 

Because Australia is/was a highly regulated country (but becoming increasingly less so, with globalisation), many of our systems are/were better.

 

I think if your husband was sick he would have had better treatment in the USA.

Most of our best doctors are trained in Canada and leave to the USA where they can make more money. We have many many Canadians that are going to the USA for treatment because our Public system is falling apart, we don't have a private alternative like many other countries have.

Canadians are travelling across the border for quicker treatment in the US.

If I was a non-Canadian and travelling internationally and had medical insurance I would prefer to be treated in the USA.

[Globaliser]

Do we think Americans can't do the job as well as Canadians? Of course not, but I'd rather be sick in Canada than the USA, because their health system is better for visiting foreigners.

Of course, if one system is better than another, then by all means you would want to make a perfectly rational choice.

 

But Qantas maintenance could not be said to be distinctly better than all other maintenance providers around the world. Sending Qantas aircraft out to other maintenance providers does not itself mean that safety will be compromised, because the job can be done just as well by others.

 

So one does have to ask just what is being invoked when Qantas unions say that safety will be compromised by sending maintenance overseas (on which they seem to manage to convince a substantial proportion of Australians)? The answer is not a pretty one. It would be better if they were honest and simply said "We think that as a matter of principle the company should not be sending any work overseas and should be keeping it in Australia to protect Australian/our union members' jobs", rather than being dishonest about the safety argument.

[Goldryder]

Not connected (hopefully - as in poor maintenance/disgruntled mechanics etc) but Qantas had another incident today...

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7529451.stm

[Globaliser]

No big deal, though. Qantas has incidents like this all the time. So does every other airline. You don't hear about them because (a) they're not important and (b) the media are very biased and selective about what they report.

[Globaliser]

For anyone who's interested, the preliminary factual report will be published tomorrow (Friday 29 August 2008), at 1030L in Canberra.

[Globaliser]

Here is the ATSB website page for the preliminary report, plus a direct link to the report itself (2.24 MB PDF).

[SelectSys]

It was interesting to see that a portion of the exploded oxygen cannister went up into the passenger cabin before falling out of the aircraft. QANTAS is lucky that this accident wasn't worse.

[Globaliser]

Yes: A few more holes in the blocks of cheese, and it could have been very bad. I am in for an interesting read when I can settle down to it.

[scottbee]

Thanks for the link. Very interesting read