Ground Crew's Deadly Bungle

[peter991]

Source

A QANTAS passenger jet flew from Manila to Australia without emergency oxygen because it had been sealed off by Philippines maintenance workers.

The fault was discovered only after the 300-seat A330 Airbus landed at Sydney airport.

Angry pilots and engineers have called for a Senate inquiry into maintenance policies at Qantas, and the airline has ordered an urgent internal investigation.

The plane, on a ferry flight after a major overhaul, was carrying a flight crew and possibly some Qantas staff.

A damaging audit report on poor maintenance of a 747-400 Jumbo in Singapore last year was also revealed this week.

The incidents add to concerns among airline staff and politicians that maintenance standards could fall if an $11.1 billion bid for the carrier succeeds.

A leaked maintenance report on the Airbus seen by the Herald Sun and dated March 11 says: "On investergation (sic) found crew oxy bottle shutoff valve in the closed position and lockwired."

The report notes the valve was opened to the flow position by engineering staff at Sydney's Mascot airport.

Angry pilots and maintenance engineers compared the problem with the situation Prime Minister John Howard confronted in a smoke-filled RAAF Hercules in Iraq at the weekend.

"If there had been smoke in the (Qantas) aircraft, the crew would have needed that oxygen," said Capt Mike Glynn, acting president of the Australian International Pilots Association and a qualified A330 pilot.

"This oxygen is meant to be provided to flight crew during an emergency."

Capt Glynn said if the problem was missed in a pre-flight check, it could have led to "potentially dire circumstances".

Steve Purvis, federal secretary of the Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association, said "that plane would have dived in the dirt in an emergency without oxygen in the cockpit".

David Cox, Qantas executive general manager, engineering, said a back-up oxygen bottle had been on the plane.

Both Capt Glynn and Mr Purvis said the oxygen incident and flaws in work carried out on a Boeing 747-400 by a Singapore contractor highlighted the need for a Senate inquiry into Qantas maintenance.

Mr Cox acknowledged that the A330 was flown to Australia with the oxygen valve wired shut.

He said the Airbus, registered VH-EBA, carried only the cockpit crew and "possibly several other staff" on the flight.

The plane had returned from Manila where Lufthansa Technik, an offshoot of Germany's international airline, had carried out a major C-check overhaul.

"No facility is perfect, every facility has problems," said Mr Cox, arguing that it was the diligence with which maintenance issues were managed that was what eventually counted.

He would not discuss how the problem occurred, noting that a "quality resolution was in play with Lufthansa Technik". Pressed again how the problem came about, Mr Cox replied: "I don't think that's appropriate for me to speculate.

"We are running an investigation with the provider. We will run it down to root cause.

"We will not give up if we are going to use that facility again until the specifics of that issue have been resolved."

Mr Cox said the leaked details involved confidential information from the Qantas audit system and it could become a criminal matter that the document was in someone else's hands.

The oxygen issue is the latest in a series of complaints airline staff have raised about contracting maintenance to low-cost overseas workshops.

A report in The Australian yesterday noted that a Qantas investigation had raised doubts over whether maintenance carried out on its planes overseas was meeting the airline's own standards or those of the Civil Aviation Safety Authority.

Mr Cox said of maintenance contracts: "If the standards are not up to our expectations we will go in and deal with that."

** That's what happens when an airline tries to cut costs by out-sourcing their maintenance.

Peter