Engine Problem Forces Qantas Jet Back To Bangkok

[rotary]

QANTAS sure has had a lot of incidents in the last couple of years that sound like near misses to the untrained observer (myself and most people). Is the industry competition driving the executives to cut corners on safety & maintenance or is this just a series of coincidences? I know we have some pilots around here who probably have a thought or two.

Their incidents get reported more widely than other airlines is the real reason. The media hate them, but the fact is they haven't had a fatal accident for 60 years or so.

Gosh do not let CNN get onto this "news" as they will blow it all up to gain viewers

[midas]

Just to add the 747.400 has a different R.R. engine than the new A380. so I would very much doubt that it's a related problem.

As for a U.S.A. poster(that's a guess) who is promoting his own Pratt and Whitney engines, he will have to look at their safety record before suggesting -switching- Sorry Rolls Royce are the best, and the most reliable,and more economical, sour grapes sir, same as the Concord was the best but U.S.A. was jealous again, didn't buy ?? but most business men were Americans who wanted the 3 hour-rather than 7 hour flight.

I would think it's more accurate to say Rolls-Royce used to be the best but like so many things in the world perhaps cost-cutting is forcing them to cut corners also.The bottom line is their refusal to discuss any of these matters in public must have seriously tainted the Rolls-Royce reputation?

Qantas cannot possibly switch to another manufacturer just like that even if they wanted to because they have already invested so much money in the Rolls-Royce engines they already have on their existing fleet. But I have to say I think it's disgraceful that Rolls-Royce refused to comment on a problem that related solely to them thereby leaving questions in the minds of passengers and potentially damaging the reputation of Qantas which is totally unjustifiable.

It is no wonder that both Qantas and Qantas insurers both sued Rolls-Royce separately and if these kinds of incidents continue perhaps it will be necessary when booking your ticket to ask if the aircraft is fitted with Rolls-Royce engines or not?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jx3MQQcACRU

Edited October 17, 2011 by midas

[sfbandung]

Happened to me once on a Malaysia flight from KL back to London.

Knew sumit was wrong when the beer service stopped.

Sure enough had a look of of the window and one of the engines was on fire.Waved at the stewardess and she indicated.. shushh please..most passengers were sleeping and prob didnt know....

No Prob.

Pilot made a very confident call,put out the fire,told us that he would dump the fuel and headed back to KL...very professional.

Spent the night in a cracking hotel in KL and raided the mini bar...

I hate all those stupid emoticons, but your attitude is sensational.

[Boksida]

hi guys. at the moment its a shit fight [ pardon the french }between qantas and the unions in australia. if its not he ground staff its the engineers on strike .qantas is trying to make big changes the way it dose business. and the ceo .is a irish guy called james joyce .who used to work for ryan air in europe .now if you know about ryan air. then i need say no more .and the unions hate this joyce . they call him bog irish . i am irish and i know what it means . .and the fact that he is on 5000000 aussie a year plus shares is not helping things. more info if you want it . james

James Joyce was an Irish novelist who died sometime around 1941. He has as much chance of being Qantas CEO as your Shift key.

Some bog Irish confuse him with Alan Joyce.

[theblether]

Just to add the 747.400 has a different R.R. engine than the new A380. so I would very much doubt that it's a related problem.

As for a U.S.A. poster(that's a guess) who is promoting his own Pratt and Whitney engines, he will have to look at their safety record before suggesting -switching- Sorry Rolls Royce are the best, and the most reliable,and more economical, sour grapes sir, same as the Concord was the best but U.S.A. was jealous again, didn't buy ?? but most business men were Americans who wanted the 3 hour-rather than 7 hour flight.

I would think it's more accurate to say Rolls-Royce used to be the best but like so many things in the world perhaps cost-cutting is forcing them to cut corners also.The bottom line is their refusal to discuss any of these matters in public must have seriously tainted the Rolls-Royce reputation?

Qantas cannot possibly switch to another manufacturer just like that even if they wanted to because they have already invested so much money in the Rolls-Royce engines they already have on their existing fleet. But I have to say I think it's disgraceful that Rolls-Royce refused to comment on a problem that related solely to them thereby leaving questions in the minds of passengers and potentially damaging the reputation of Qantas which is totally unjustifiable.

It is no wonder that both Qantas and Qantas insurers both sued Rolls-Royce separately and if these kinds of incidents continue perhaps it will be necessary when booking your ticket to ask if the aircraft is fitted with Rolls-Royce engines or not?

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=Jx3MQQcACRU

No one will be taking these issues more seriously that Rolls Royce.

[Rinrada]

Happened to me once on a Malaysia flight from KL back to London.

Knew sumit was wrong when the beer service stopped.

Sure enough had a look of of the window and one of the engines was on fire.Waved at the stewardess and she indicated.. shushh please..most passengers were sleeping and prob didnt know....

No Prob.

Pilot made a very confident call,put out the fire,told us that he would dump the fuel and headed back to KL...very professional.

Spent the night in a cracking hotel in KL and raided the mini bar...

I hate all those stupid emoticons, but your attitude is sensational.

SFB...Point taken...no more emos..

[sfbandung]

I just flew this morning from Port Moresby to Rabaul, which few people probably know, as it is in Papua New Guinea (a little north of Australia).

But there was a plane crash here on Thursday afternoon where 28 people (may they RIP) were killed. So here we are sitting in the departure lounge with everyone reading newspapers with charred aeroplane wreckage strewn all over the front pages. Not that comfy, and our plane was delayed an hour, "due to technical requirements".

[midas]

Happened to me once on a Malaysia flight from KL back to London.

Knew sumit was wrong when the beer service stopped.

Sure enough had a look of of the window and one of the engines was on fire.Waved at the stewardess and she indicated.. shushh please..most passengers were sleeping and prob didnt know....

No Prob.

Pilot made a very confident call,put out the fire,told us that he would dump the fuel and headed back to KL...very professional.

Spent the night in a cracking hotel in KL and raided the mini bar...

oh dear does one see a trend beginning to emerge here?

ROLLS-ROYCE SIGNS TOTALCARE SERVICES AGREEMENT WITH MALAYSIA AIRLINES

http://www.newswit.com/.nrg/2010-03-11/814eac12a6618ecf697789e48b576714/

[theblether]

Happened to me once on a Malaysia flight from KL back to London.

Knew sumit was wrong when the beer service stopped.

Sure enough had a look of of the window and one of the engines was on fire.Waved at the stewardess and she indicated.. shushh please..most passengers were sleeping and prob didnt know....

No Prob.

Pilot made a very confident call,put out the fire,told us that he would dump the fuel and headed back to KL...very professional.

Spent the night in a cracking hotel in KL and raided the mini bar...

I hate all those stupid emoticons, but your attitude is sensational.

SFB...Point taken...no more emos..

don't let sfb put you off using emos, that would be . The emos are good for a and for expressing sentiment, so even if they make sfb feel or you just carry right on. Then again I don't want to cause a so it's up too you.

[seafarer]

hi guys. at the moment its a shit fight [ pardon the french }between qantas and the unions in australia. if its not he ground staff its the engineers on strike .qantas is trying to make big changes the way it dose business. and the ceo .is a irish guy called james joyce .who used to work for ryan air in europe .now if you know about ryan air. then i need say no more .and the unions hate this joyce . they call him bog irish . i am irish and i know what it means . .and the fact that he is on 5000000 aussie a year plus shares is not helping things. more info if you want it . james

Well thats that then ! Putting a Mulldoon in charge is like the kiss of death. Saving money by cutting corners usually results in the aforementioned comments. Qantas should know better and get shut of this guy or they will witness a total degradation of the company and more safety issues.

[outofoz]

Happened to me once on a Malaysia flight from KL back to London.

Knew sumit was wrong when the beer service stopped.

Sure enough had a look of of the window and one of the engines was on fire.Waved at the stewardess and she indicated.. shushh please..most passengers were sleeping and prob didnt know....

No Prob.

Pilot made a very confident call,put out the fire,told us that he would dump the fuel and headed back to KL...very professional.

Spent the night in a cracking hotel in KL and raided the mini bar...

I hate all those stupid emoticons, but your attitude is sensational.

SFB...Point taken...no more emos..

[wallswod]

Oh, those pesky compressor stalls

Naughty bleed valve again !

[outofoz]

Joyce is just at Qantas for the $$... he gave himself the 71% pay rise (taking his package to $5million) about the same time he announced sacking 1000 staff.. I guess his 71% is linked to increased profit margins...just saved 1000 wages worth of $$ MINUS the 71% bonus he gets!

Qantas resembles its sibling Jetstar more and more every day. They are charging $ for seat allocation now ($80 for exit row seat)...but that hasn't come with the cheaper flights! the plane was old and tired and looked it. You have to wonder with all the penny pinching whether safety will be affected in the near future.

Qantas needs to revert back to 100% government ownership..i think its 49% now? All this shareholder value nonsense and ridiculously high and disporportiante wages.

On the flight from SYD to BKK with them last month, at the end of the flight the Captain made a general announcement about the workplace dispute they were having and if you supported Qantas staff and wanted jobs to stay in OZ and have good continuing service to go online and sign a petition

[WarpSpeed]

Perhaps Qantas should incorporate the following safety checklist, as used by the freight carrier UPS:

Remember, it takes a college degree to fly a plane, but only a high school diploma to fix one. (That's reassuring to those who fly routinely).

Doesn't bother me 1 iota it's absolutely irrelevant in these cases..

[harleyclarkey]

hi guys. at the moment its a shit fight [ pardon the french }between qantas and the unions in australia. if its not he ground staff its the engineers on strike .qantas is trying to make big changes the way it dose business. and the ceo .is a irish guy called james joyce .who used to work for ryan air in europe .now if you know about ryan air. then i need say no more .and the unions hate this joyce . they call him bog irish . i am irish and i know what it means . .and the fact that he is on 5000000 aussie a year plus shares is not helping things. more info if you want it . james

Know what you mean SF!

Ryanair is hated by the unions (and a lot of their passengers), especially here in Ireland. They show the militant heavily unionised national carrier Aer Lingus up for what they are. Work shy, overstaffed, and underworked prima donnas. They are a parallel to Quantas and have been saved repeatedly at huge cost by the Irish tax payer in the past. We recently lost 1,000 high tech maintenance jobs offered by Ryanair to Germany because Aer Lingus suddenly discovered that they did in fact need the empty hanger that Ryanair needed, over which they had a lease.

Ryanair will eventually own Aer Lingus as they are losing money hand over fist while Ryanair are one of the most profitable airlines in the world. So hope Joyce, the CEO of Quantas and x Ryanair, sorts out the militant Aussie unions and protects the airline for the good of all the staff and their jobs.

(I despise Ryanair and particularly Michael O'Leary's way of doing "business". He was amusing at first but now he gives me a headache just by looking at him. The man is mad...no longer funny).

Edited October 17, 2011 by harleyclarkey

[WarpSpeed]

This happened to me onboard an Air France 747 from CGD to BKK, only they had to shut down two engines! spent a night in Disney World.

Not long after take off, most likely a bird strike....

At first I thought that too but 10 minutes in flight it should have already been too high for that.

It wasn't Quantas but coming over here in 2003 about an hour out of Japan I had taken one of my stretching walks around the cabin and always went to the wings area as the emergency exits there provide a wide area to stretch in and I like to watch the engines and the wings flexing and such.

I had done this several times during the trip and I'm very familiar with expected movements, but the left side inboard engine had developed exactly the type of rotational vibration that is described here and I called over the steward in the business class to have a look and he was not at all condescending nor patronizing.

He asked me "what was up?" and if "I was seeing something?" and I told him I had 20 some years with working with motors of all types and that the motion on that engine was like an out of balance washing machine but not that dramatic yet and he watched for several minutes with me and finally I said "I'm going back to put on my seat belt" (being the only comfort I could get) and he agreed and said he would get the engineer back here to have a look and shortly after that I heard the other engines come up in RPM's as that one was shut down.

That was the longest hour of my life, we had a delay in Japan and the gate was right in front of us and they backed the jet out and brought in another one for the final leg to Bangkok. I felt very satisfied I was paying attention and much to their credit they were not patronizing in any way and took me serious. That plane was rough and was showing it's age, the one they brought in was nearly new and much nicer for that leg too bad it wasn't what we had for the lengthy part ... If anything good has come out of the 911 tragedy my feeling is that the flight crews are more connected with the passengers to work as a team in cases such as this for everyone to get to our destination together instead of us against them.. In the not so distant past that's how it would have been...

Great story/account. Was thinking nothing would happen at the front end of it, so the result you described at the end was really interesting. Always makes me wonder "what if" .

Yep me too and in this case it's really somewhat of non story which is Ok with me just something I can share with friends and family and that in and of itself is a happy ending...

[bapak]

I forgot to mention also on flight 32 in 2010 they happened to have two check captains on-board that flight as well as the normal Capt

( so a check Captain checking a check Captain who was checking the Captain in control ) although it is fortunate they had all that experience on board considering what happened that day. But what is also amazing is that the most senior Check captain also made a remark regarding Rolls-Royce in the 4 Corners documentary which could also be considered quite derogatory and would cause certain people to lose confidence somewhat in that particular company

http://en.wikipedia....antas_Flight_32

for those who are reading this thread and who may be interested in hearing about this similar incident in greater depth

( and the potential impact to the reputation of Qantas )

the ABC 4 Corners documentary is well worth watching at this link :-

http://www.abc.net.a...0110328/qantas/

Another incident here with a Rolls Royce RB211 engine on a Quantas 747-400 flight to San Francisco on the 29th August - "uncontained engine failure" - http://www.channelne...1159767/1/.html

I watched the 4 Corners documentary and at the time thought the Captains remarks were biased towards Quantas - However, it seems as his experience was not a one-off and I can now quite understand Quantas Pilots' lack of confidence in Rolls Royce engines and/or the maintenance thereof. Whether his remarks were aimed at Rolls Royce per se or maybe a subtle way of drawing attention to Mr "Ryan Airways" approach to aircraft maintenance can only be guessed at. Either way, Rolls Royce doesn't seem to be doing themselves any good by remaining silent.

Why there is no "U" in Qantas..

Queensland / and / northern / territory / air / services

Just my 2 cents worth...

[planemad]

Wallswod, I suspect you might be the only other technical person here who does know what he is talking about!

[wpcoe]

Oh, those pesky compressor stalls

Naughty bleed valve again !

Compressor stall was my deduction, as well, especially since the pilot said he shut down the engine as a precaution. If it were a major engine problem, it would not be a precautionary shutdown, but a mandatory one (or an uncontrolled shutdown, i.e. engine blown to bits <g>).

[ginjag]

Just to add the 747.400 has a different R.R. engine than the new A380. so I would very much doubt that it's a related problem.

As for a U.S.A. poster(that's a guess) who is promoting his own Pratt and Whitney engines, he will have to look at their safety record before suggesting -switching- Sorry Rolls Royce are the best, and the most reliable,and more economical, sour grapes sir, same as the Concord was the best but U.S.A. was jealous again, didn't buy ?? but most business men were Americans who wanted the 3 hour-rather than 7 hour flight.

I would think it's more accurate to say Rolls-Royce used to be the best but like so many things in the world perhaps cost-cutting is forcing them to cut corners also.The bottom line is their refusal to discuss any of these matters in public must have seriously tainted the Rolls-Royce reputation?

Qantas cannot possibly switch to another manufacturer just like that even if they wanted to because they have already invested so much money in the Rolls-Royce engines they already have on their existing fleet. But I have to say I think it's disgraceful that Rolls-Royce refused to comment on a problem that related solely to them thereby leaving questions in the minds of passengers and potentially damaging the reputation of Qantas which is totally unjustifiable.

It is no wonder that both Qantas and Qantas insurers both sued Rolls-Royce separately and if these kinds of incidents continue perhaps it will be necessary when booking your ticket to ask if the aircraft is fitted with Rolls-Royce engines or not?

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=Jx3MQQcACRU

I am sticking to my instincts and would still say they are the best. Maybe i'm a patriotic Brit.

I did interestingly watch the Aussie programme, and found it a bit one sided but WITH REASON, I would think there is too much at stake for them to comment fully or even comment at all, as the whole thing is being dragged through the liable process. I did note that the problem seems to be a piece of oil pipe Thumb length that has been lathed (not straight) and maybe made by a specialist supplier, that will also have to be accounted for in the court process, so there will be many claims and counter claims.

R.R. it appears have been told NOT to comment until the right time. don't forget this 747-400 is using a different engine, and we do not know what caused this incident. Further than that, we have to understand how many engines are in use with Qantas + all other airlines. and to say that before booking a plane ticket a passenger to ask if the engines are R.Royce ? HaHa....absolute hilarious remark. GET REAL. Better ask the tour company who is the pilot and how long has he been flying

[harryn]

hi guys. at the moment its a shit fight [ pardon the french }between qantas and the unions in australia. if its not he ground staff its the engineers on strike .qantas is trying to make big changes the way it dose business. and the ceo .is a irish guy called james joyce .who used to work for ryan air in europe .now if you know about ryan air. then i need say no more .and the unions hate this joyce . they call him bog irish . i am irish and i know what it means . .and the fact that he is on 5000000 aussie a year plus shares is not helping things. more info if you want it . james

Know what you mean SF!

Ryanair is hated by the unions (and a lot of their passengers), especially here in Ireland. They show the militant heavily unionised national carrier Aer Lingus up for what they are. Work shy, overstaffed, and underworked prima donnas. They are a parallel to Quantas and have been saved repeatedly at huge cost by the Irish tax payer in the past. We recently lost 1,000 high tech maintenance jobs offered by Ryanair to Germany because Aer Lingus suddenly discovered that they did in fact need the empty hanger that Ryanair needed, over which they had a lease.

Ryanair will eventually own Aer Lingus as they are losing money hand over fist while Ryanair are one of the most profitable airlines in the world. So hope Joyce, the CEO of Quantas and x Ryanair, sorts out the militant Aussie unions and protects the airline for the good of all the staff and their jobs.

!I despise Ryanair and particularly Michael O'Leary's way of doing "business". He was amusing at first but now he gives me a headache just by looking at him. The man is mad...no longer funny).

Totally agree about your commentsof despising Michael O'Leary. Remember when all planes were grounded due to the volcano issues in Iceland when O'Leary initialy refused to reimburse people for cancelled flights even though he was legally obliged too. also remember him trying to charge to use toilet in the plane, total lack of understanding of what supplying a service to customers is. Blackmail is more his game. Good Luck Quantus and Rolls Royce in sorting the issues.

[ginjag]

hi guys. at the moment its a shit fight [ pardon the french }between qantas and the unions in australia. if its not he ground staff its the engineers on strike .qantas is trying to make big changes the way it dose business. and the ceo .is a irish guy called james joyce .who used to work for ryan air in europe .now if you know about ryan air. then i need say no more .and the unions hate this joyce . they call him bog irish . i am irish and i know what it means . .and the fact that he is on 5000000 aussie a year plus shares is not helping things. more info if you want it . james

Know what you mean SF!

Ryanair is hated by the unions (and a lot of their passengers), especially here in Ireland. They show the militant heavily unionised national carrier Aer Lingus up for what they are. Work shy, overstaffed, and underworked prima donnas. They are a parallel to Quantas and have been saved repeatedly at huge cost by the Irish tax payer in the past. We recently lost 1,000 high tech maintenance jobs offered by Ryanair to Germany because Aer Lingus suddenly discovered that they did in fact need the empty hanger that Ryanair needed, over which they had a lease.

Ryanair will eventually own Aer Lingus as they are losing money hand over fist while Ryanair are one of the most profitable airlines in the world. So hope Joyce, the CEO of Quantas and x Ryanair, sorts out the militant Aussie unions and protects the airline for the good of all the staff and their jobs.

!I despise Ryanair and particularly Michael O'Leary's way of doing "business". He was amusing at first but now he gives me a headache just by looking at him. The man is mad...no longer funny).

Totally agree about your commentsof despising Michael O'Leary. Remember when all planes were grounded due to the volcano issues in Iceland when O'Leary initialy refused to reimburse people for cancelled flights even though he was legally obliged too. also remember him trying to charge to use toilet in the plane, total lack of understanding of what supplying a service to customers is. Blackmail is more his game. Good Luck Quantus and Rolls Royce in sorting the issues.

The man has his moments but don't they all- the fact that he has made a stand here and there, and gives no frills service at a very low price. if you want the toilet on a 1 hour flight and have to pay your bad luck or health. pay a Quid for a pee. If he was that bad why has he got a booming business-he doesn't rely on government handouts or subsidies as Qantas do to run. The fact that he wanted to buy out Irelands national carrier talks for it'self. I like these people that stop big carriers monopolizing --Freddy Laker-Branson-Easyjet.--to name a few.

[rakman]

The most frequent question that I get from nervous passengers is "Do big airliners like this crash very often?"

"Usually, only once." seems to re-assure them.

Of course, in one bird's case, maybe twice.

23 September 1999 runway overrun Qantas paid somewhere around 100 million in repairs to save their reputation.

Fortunately, no fatalities and a few minor injuries. Lucky all.

http://www.atsb.gov.au/publications/investigation_reports/1999/AAIR/pdf/aair199904538_001.pdf

The aircraft is nicknamed "Golf Buggy" and most notable is the Royal Thai Army golf course putting green that now has the "Qantas Approach"..

[Bagwan]

Do airlines other than Qantas have problems with Rolls Royce engines? If not, I wonder why that is.

[kennalder]

In such case & it is your last day on visa , and departed stamped ......witch is the visa status because of return & failure to depart complete..??

How would they know? Oz doesn't stamp passports of their citizens. Could only see a problem if from a country not eligible for visa on arrival, and I'm sure they would have a special case procedure if required.

500 baht fine or buy a new visa on landing

So that's where all the "arrivals" the TAT is touting are coming from.

[Gonsalviz]

It's what they get for buying RR's.

[DoctorG]

Perhaps Qantas should incorporate the following safety checklist, as used by the freight carrier UPS:

Remember, it takes a college degree to fly a plane, but only a high school diploma to fix one. (That's reassuring to those who fly routinely).

After every flight, UPS pilots fill out a form, called a 'gripe sheet,' which tells mechanics about problems with the aircraft. The mechanics correct the problems, document their repairs on

the form, and then pilots review the gripe sheets before the next flight.

Never let it be said that ground crews lack a sense of humor. Here are some actual maintenance complaints submitted by UPS pilots (marked with a P) and the solutions recorded (marked with an S) by maintenance engineers.

By the way, UPS is the only major airline that has never, ever, had an accident...

P: Left inside main tire almost needs replacement.

S: Almost replaced left inside main tire.

*

P: Test flight OK, except auto-land very rough.

S: Auto-land not installed on this aircraft.

*

P: Something loose in cockpit

S: Something tightened in cockpit

*

P: Dead bugs on windshield.

S: Live bugs on back-order.

*

P: Autopilot in altitude-hold mode produces a 200 feet per minute

descent

S: Cannot reproduce problem on ground.

*

P: Evidence of leak on right main landing gear.

S: Evidence removed.

*

P: DME volume unbelievably loud.

S: DME volume set to more believable level.

*

P: Friction locks cause throttle levers to stick.

S: That's what friction locks are for.

*

P: IFF inoperative in OFF mode.

S: IFF always inoperative in OFF mode.

*

P: Suspected crack in windshield.

S: Suspect you 're right.

*

P: Number 3 engine missing.

S: Engine found on right wing after brief search

*

P: Aircraft handles funny.

S: Aircraft warned to straighten up, fly right and be serious.

*

P: Target radar hums.

S: Reprogrammed target radar with lyrics.

*

P: Mouse in cockpit.

S: Cat installed.

*

And the best one for last

*

P: Noise coming from under instrument panel. Sounds like a midget pounding on something with a hammer.

S: Took hammer away from midget

These are great . Thanks for the chuckles.

[harleyclarkey]

Perhaps Qantas should incorporate the following safety checklist, as used by the freight carrier UPS:

Remember, it takes a college degree to fly a plane, but only a high school diploma to fix one. (That's reassuring to those who fly routinely).

After every flight, UPS pilots fill out a form, called a 'gripe sheet,' which tells mechanics about problems with the aircraft. The mechanics correct the problems, document their repairs on

the form, and then pilots review the gripe sheets before the next flight.

Never let it be said that ground crews lack a sense of humor. Here are some actual maintenance complaints submitted by UPS pilots (marked with a P) and the solutions recorded (marked with an S) by maintenance engineers.

By the way, UPS is the only major airline that has never, ever, had an accident...

P: Left inside main tire almost needs replacement.

S: Almost replaced left inside main tire.

*

P: Test flight OK, except auto-land very rough.

S: Auto-land not installed on this aircraft.

*

P: Something loose in cockpit

S: Something tightened in cockpit

*

P: Dead bugs on windshield.

S: Live bugs on back-order.

*

P: Autopilot in altitude-hold mode produces a 200 feet per minute

descent

S: Cannot reproduce problem on ground.

*

P: Evidence of leak on right main landing gear.

S: Evidence removed.

*

P: DME volume unbelievably loud.

S: DME volume set to more believable level.

*

P: Friction locks cause throttle levers to stick.

S: That's what friction locks are for.

*

P: IFF inoperative in OFF mode.

S: IFF always inoperative in OFF mode.

*

P: Suspected crack in windshield.

S: Suspect you 're right.

*

P: Number 3 engine missing.

S: Engine found on right wing after brief search

*

P: Aircraft handles funny.

S: Aircraft warned to straighten up, fly right and be serious.

*

P: Target radar hums.

S: Reprogrammed target radar with lyrics.

*

P: Mouse in cockpit.

S: Cat installed.

*

And the best one for last

*

P: Noise coming from under instrument panel. Sounds like a midget pounding on something with a hammer.

S: Took hammer away from midget

Magic...needed a good laugh!

The latest from Ryanair is to have only 1 toilet installed on their 737's. This will free up 6 more seats! By the way I believe airlines are not legally obliged to provide toilets...can this be true?? No wonder poor old Gerard Depardieu got "caught short" on a Ryanair flight!!

I agree he has been incredibly successful. But he in my opinion has gone too far. Nearly every single passenger has their hand luggage weighted and size checked at the gate. You can not even have a handbag or a camera visible. Their staff are honours graduates out of the Michael O'Leary school of charm and grace.

Crimeair now have a 2 euro charge on every booking to cover future payouts for things like the Icelandic volcano ash.

But he will fully own Aer Lingus, (unless BA or Ethihad fail to buy), another failed national airline,like Quantas, run by power crazed unions and entrenched staff with no sense of commercial reality.

I

Edited October 18, 2011 by harleyclarkey

[midas]

Do airlines other than Qantas have problems with Rolls Royce engines? If not, I wonder why that is.

Forty Rolls Royce Airbus A380 engines 'need replacing'

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-11782579

[midas]

Just to add the 747.400 has a different R.R. engine than the new A380. so I would very much doubt that it's a related problem.

As for a U.S.A. poster(that's a guess) who is promoting his own Pratt and Whitney engines, he will have to look at their safety record before suggesting -switching- Sorry Rolls Royce are the best, and the most reliable,and more economical, sour grapes sir, same as the Concord was the best but U.S.A. was jealous again, didn't buy ?? but most business men were Americans who wanted the 3 hour-rather than 7 hour flight.

I would think it's more accurate to say Rolls-Royce used to be the best but like so many things in the world perhaps cost-cutting is forcing them to cut corners also.The bottom line is their refusal to discuss any of these matters in public must have seriously tainted the Rolls-Royce reputation?

Qantas cannot possibly switch to another manufacturer just like that even if they wanted to because they have already invested so much money in the Rolls-Royce engines they already have on their existing fleet. But I have to say I think it's disgraceful that Rolls-Royce refused to comment on a problem that related solely to them thereby leaving questions in the minds of passengers and potentially damaging the reputation of Qantas which is totally unjustifiable.

It is no wonder that both Qantas and Qantas insurers both sued Rolls-Royce separately and if these kinds of incidents continue perhaps it will be necessary when booking your ticket to ask if the aircraft is fitted with Rolls-Royce engines or not?

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=Jx3MQQcACRU

I am sticking to my instincts and would still say they are the best. Maybe i'm a patriotic Brit.

I did interestingly watch the Aussie programme, and found it a bit one sided but WITH REASON, I would think there is too much at stake for them to comment fully or even comment at all, as the whole thing is being dragged through the liable process. I did note that the problem seems to be a piece of oil pipe Thumb length that has been lathed (not straight) and maybe made by a specialist supplier, that will also have to be accounted for in the court process, so there will be many claims and counter claims.

R.R. it appears have been told NOT to comment until the right time. don't forget this 747-400 is using a different engine, and we do not know what caused this incident. Further than that, we have to understand how many engines are in use with Qantas + all other airlines. and to say that before booking a plane ticket a passenger to ask if the engines are R.Royce ? HaHa....absolute hilarious remark. GET REAL. Better ask the tour company who is the pilot and how long has he been flying

And I as a patriotic Australian who has flown Qantas around the world too many times to remember, am sticking to my instincts too.

How can you honestly suggest that the Australian presentation was one sided when one of the two parties to what is essentially a vital partnership keeps totally quiet and refuses to communicate on any aspect leaving the other partner in this business relationship i.e the airline to muddle through the public relations disaster entirely on their own.

Like I said earlier it is disgraceful. And when you say Rolls-Royce were told not to comment regarding this incident, then how do you explain four other incidents that affected its family of aircraft engines in little more than a three month period as analysed in a Financial Times article dated November 7 2010 ( link provided below ).

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/1f8e6f2a-eaab-11df-b28d-00144feab49a.html#axzz1b82ZWcap

Edited October 18, 2011 by midas