Turbulence at Qantas
It is turning into something of an annus horribilis for Qantas, Australia's fabled Flying Kangaroo.
Things started to go badly awry back in July, when one of its Boeing 747-400s, flying from Hong Kong to Melbourne, was forced to make an emergency landing in Manila after an exploding oxygen cylinder opened up a terrifyingly large hole in its fuselage.
Just days later, a domestic flight from Adelaide had to turn around mid-air because the flap covering a wheel bay would not close - admittedly, the sort of incident that would have gone unreported in normal times, but which quickly came to embroider the unfolding narrative of the airline's week of woes.
Then, in August, a Boeing 747 bound for Manila, ironically enough, had to return to Sydney after developing a hydraulic fluid leak.
Now, as you no doubt will have read, there's been a mid-air drama involving a Qantas Airbus 330-300, flying from Singapore to Perth.
Some 36 passengers were injured, 15 of them seriously. Many of the injuries - broken legs and noses, severe lacerations - appear to have been sustained as passengers and crew were slammed against the ceiling and luggage racks of the cabin.
As the testimony of passengers has revealed, it must have been the most frightening of ordeals.
Government safety investigators are looking into the most recent incident - what's called clear-air turbulence is one theory for the sudden loss of altitude. Another is a possible computer problem. The Australian Transport Safety Bureau said it needed to analyse flight data recorders to determine the exact cause.
Qantas itself may not have been at fault. But it brings more unwelcome publicity for an airline which started life as the Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services (hence the acronym Qantas) that has always prided itself on its enviable safety record.
On this front, Qantas has been the beneficiary of one of the most generous plugs in movie history: the moment in Rain Man when Tom Cruise, playing Charlie, turns to Dustin Hoffman, playing Ray:
Tom: 'Ray, all airlines have crashed at one time or another, that doesn't mean they are not safe.'
Dustin: 'Qantas. Qantas never crashed.'
Rain Man was only partly true. Qantas has experienced eight fatal accidents, though never lost a jet airliner nor suffered a jet airliner-related fatality.
Qantas has also benefited from one of the most emotive 'feel good' corporate brand campaigns that I have ever seen: the tear-inducing 'I Still Call Australia Home' ads, which feature Peter Allen's famous ballad about an ex-pat's yearning for home.
(When a foreign-backed consortium launched a take-over for Qantas, which raised regulatory concerns about the legal requirement for the airline to be Australian-owned, the Chaser Boys memorably performed their own variant: 'I Still Call Australia 51% home.')
But in some respects that campaign has boomeranged. It has created among Australians a sense of ownership over their national carrier, which means everyone has an opinion, and often they are not particularly favourable.
Qantas is very much part of the national conversation. And for some, having an unhappy experience with the Flying Kangaroo is akin to being maligned by a trusted friend.
After the Manila incident, Qantas received received a slap across the knuckles from Australia's Civil Aviation Safety Authority. While the CASA did not uncover any 'direct links' between the safety incidents earlier in the year, it called upon the airline to 'address deficiencies in meeting some of its own maintenance performance targets' and announced two additional intensive audits on its fleet and maintenance systems.
So Qantas executives could be in for a bumpy ride, and may wish to take the same advice as their flight crews dispense to passengers: 'Keep your seatbelts firmly fastened.'
PS: I've been distracted by Qantas, and had been meaning to get back to you on your comments about the economy. I'll be sure to do that next time. But ahead of that, I'd love to hear what you all make of the 1% drop in interest rates, the biggest single drop in 16 years.
I'm 
© MMIX~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~41~RS~)
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QF should ground all their planes.
Its getting to be one of the most accident-prone airlines around.
An accident ..maybe waiting to happen?
Singapore Airlines should buy the whole mess of crew and stock for one dollar Australian..and repair this damage.
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Qantas is getting a beating for a few reasons but mainly because of public perception of Qantas managements recent policy of cutbacks and outsourcing of maintenance work to offshore facilities. No one likes to see jobs go and when executives earn enormous bonuses at the cost of a wokers livelihood, it makes a lot of Australians unhappy.
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As an Australian living overseas for the past 13 years, there is nothing that I love more about my trip home that stepping onto a Qantas plane and feeling like I'm already there. However, with their quality standards dropping and their rising airfare prices I will be changing to one of the Gulf airlines.
My family and I will miss Qantas but unless their quality improves and their price competiveness is matched to those of other airlines we won't be travelling on our favourite Kangaroo.
We still call Australia home but we'll be using other airlines to get there!
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I_amCrocbait hit the nail on the head.
Qantas has moved alot of the maintenance overseas, where labour is cheaper, but obviously not as skilled.
How many warnings do they need to get before they set things straight? It will only take one accident proved to be a result of poor maintenance to lose them more money in law suits and lost custom than all the money lining the executives and shareholders pockets.
Buck up Qantas, and stop being so damn greedy.
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I believe the media are really giving Qantas a terrible time of all of this.
Let's look at the positive apsects of these incidents and in particular the ones over Manila and Exmouth.
If it wasn't for the swift reaction of Qantas' well trained flight crew and cabin staff, lives could almost certainly have been lost.
As an Australian, it gives me tremendous faith that when I am flying with Qantas I will be in safe hands.
As for the comment about Singapore Airlines buying Qantas, one has only to look at the incident some years back, involving a Singapore Airlines jet taking off from the wrong runway and killing all on board.
I will stick with the trusted hands of the flying kangaroo any day.
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Like a lot of aussies I have always had a soft spot for qantas. I can ignore thier so called maintenance problems, they happen to all airlines, but I can't ignore the new attitude to passengers.
Is it just me but the last few flights I have taken both domestic and international, the crew seriously needed a holiday themselves.
I don't expect subservience at all, but guys a smile and a pleasant attitude goes a long way. However I have found out how nice a flight on singapore is.
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As of Christmas last year QANTAS is still the best airline I've ever flown on. As an amateur pilot I can say that there isn't much you can do if you're caught in a microburst (sharp downward wind blast) which is what this sounds like to me. The recent incidents could all have been a LOT worse if it wasn't for the crew.
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Nick, Peter Allens song may indeed be a have great tune (better than Advance Australia Fair - to which I have recently discovered the correct first line is "Australians all ride Ostriches") but those Qantas Ads are more vomit inducing than tear inducing, especially given the regularity we had to sit through them during the Olympics. Granted, they're not quite as cheesy as the C7 "I love you Queensland" dirge we have up here.
So apart from the cheesy ads, Qantas has high prices, a seeming glut of local flights (can it really fill 50 flights a day between Brisbane and Cairns!?) and unlike its Virign rival is apparently recruiting overseas pilots. Better than Alitalia and the majority of nationalised airlines then.
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everybody's so quick to jump on the qantas is a bad airline bandwagon and its all caused by offshore maintenance.
turbulence is not qantas' fault. computer glitches will be caused either by interference or airbus technical fault, i would not be surprised if it was a chinese component fault at all, wait for the facts, particularly important these planes are new to the fleet.
for a start, a minimal amount of maintenance is done overseas, check it before you jump on that.
oxygen bottle? australian. our workers are too busy striking and dont bother with the set processes because they are lazy and ignorant.
but in summary, qantas is still a safe airline. the regulations are among the most stringent, but that does mean our lazy maintenance people give a damn.
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omg and people whinging about bad service!!! what is wrong with you.
you should do what they say and not the other way around if you want to be safe.
they should be tougher with people.
this could well have been caused by wireless interference. unlikely but possible.
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ppp089, as passengers we probably don't care too much who does the maintenance -so long as it's done well - that's the airline's repsonsibility to us.
As for bad service, I don't think anyone's complaining about anything that is designed to keep us safe, just a perceived decline in customer care.
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What is wrong with me complaining about bad service?
I have no issue with safety measures on qantas, I didn't whinge about that. I complained about the poor attitude of the cabin crew ppp089. As you point out...wait for the facts...I would point out to you...read the facts.
As for your remark about lazy aussie maintenance crew. The facts are that these problems have arisen SINCE overseas work has been done. Previous to this it was all done here and that is when qantas's safety record was at its best thanks to all those striking lazy australians (your words not mine)
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I think Nick's comments about Australian's sense of ownership of Qantas is very relevant here. I guess that is the reason that an inordinate amount of publicilty is given to minor incidents which would happen very frequently to all airlines. So then the major incidents become even more catastrophic.
At the end of the day, Qantas is now, like it or not, a public company and one of the few profitable airlines around. I personally find flying Qantas little different to most of the other airlines I fly, as alas, I fly economy. I generally feel no more or less safe, though I must say, safer on Qantas than on China Northern Star and Air Zimbabwe!
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After the most horrifying experience possible for passengers on this Qantas flight the nightmare is far from over.
Put off the malfunctioning aircraft in the middle of nowhere, unimaginable delays in getting passengers to their destination Perth, now passengers have been told that they will not get their luggage back until possibly Saturday at the earliest.
Surely this is a classic example of adding insult to injury.
Qantas, please note: Try and be just a littlet more user friendly or there might be many fewer people willing to fly with you in the future.
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you're spot on scrapthejack...
I've been flying UK-Australia on Qantas for years and the past couple of flights have seen a drastic drop in the level of service. Whereas before it was smiles and helpfulness from check-in to landing, the stressed, barely contained rudeness and hostility I've experienced lately has had me checking out other airlines for the first time. It's unfortunate that this has coincided with such dramatic recent price rises as it makes the drop in standards all the more noticeable and unpalatable. I'll be looking to cash-in my airmiles on my next trip and jump carriers after that.
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Qantas isn't that bad, every airline has its problems. Every single airline on this planet uses extinguishers on their planes and none has ever exploded before, that was a freak accident, be thankful no one died. The other 'incidents' are regrettable but can happen.
Think about your car, how many times has a fan belt or radiator blown. Did you ever check it before it went, probably not, only one service, maybe two per year. Qantas and other airlines check their planes regularly and they are still much safer than cars, trains or buses. We freak out about air crashes as when one unfortunately happens, it can mean the passing of 100-200 people. Thousands die on our roads every day all around the world, do they get a mention, nope.
Singapore Air are great but I recall their accident in Taiwan, I work in tourism and it was a very sad day, they are not perfect, human error. BA had the issue of the engines dying recently, American Air lost an airline over Long Island years ago, Swiss had problems, no airline is perfect, give the guys a break.
And in terms of service, unfortunately 1 rude person insulting an employee of any company is always remembered and makes even the most hardened worker upset or angry, Qantas staff like every other airline are just human beings like you and I.
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rejayjosephus should consider the facts about Qantas, they have an air safety record second to none. They also fly further than any other air line except Air New Zealand, I believe the passengers should be thankful that an Australian captain was able to rescue and land the plane safely. Please name any other airline that would have done that and I will inform you on their safety record. We Australians will never allow Qantas to be sold as we have so far to fly to get to Europe or North America and we want Australian pilots up front. Just concentrate on keeping Singapore clean so we can safely pass through to London while our plane is refueled. All I can say is Aussie Aussie Aussie Oi came and experience a real life adventure.
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Arguably Qantas service may not be quite the same level as one or tow of the asian/arab airlines, but in comparison to ANY north American airline on any route, Qantas is so far ahead there is no comparison. I have American friends who will fly Qantas NY-LAX rather than any US airlines just for the service.
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Problems at Qantas, is not the only airline in the world is having problems!!!
~Dennis Junior~
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