Thai Airways flight from Sydney to Bangkok makes emergency landing due to cracked window

[webfact]

Thai Airways flight from Sydney to Bangkok makes emergency landing due to cracked window

SYDNEY: -- A Thai Airways flight from Sydney to Bangkok was forced to make an emergency landing when a cracked window was found in the cockpit.

A spokesman for the airline confirmed that flight TG476 carrying 107 passengers landed in Bali at 4.52pm yesterday.

The plane was forced to make an emergency landing because a broken cockpit window caused a decrease in cabin pressure.

The spokesman told news.com.au that the emergency landing at Ngurah Rai International Airport was due to “broken glass” but did not have any further details.

Passengers stayed in Bali overnight and the Thai Airways spokesman said they were scheduled to fly out at 4.05pm today, and to arrive in Bali at 7.20pm.

Source: http://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-updates/thai-airways-flight-from-sydney-to-bangkok-makes-emergency-landing-due-to-cracked-window/

[ncau]2014-08-13[/ncau]

[BKKBrit]

wow...only 107 pax on a 747...no wonder they're bleeding. And like all other SE Asian carriers, they should have retired the 747-400 already. 

[bkkjames]

yea even more shocking than the crack..

[Payboy]

Passengers stayed in Bali overnight and the Thai Airways spokesman said they were scheduled to fly out at 4.05pm today, and to arrive in Bali at 7.20pm.

 

 

It must be tough being stuck in an endless loop like that.

[gregj69]

There were 272 on board including me. What a complete mess they have made of this.

[Asiantravel]

wow...only 107 pax on a 747...no wonder they're bleeding. And like all other SE Asian carriers, they should have retired the 747-400 already. 

 

 I've never understood the economics of them flying a 747 between Chiang Mai and Bangkok

[gregj69]

Last trip to Chiang Mai was pretty full. All the same 5 hrs of screwups at Bali airport is not fun, fun, fun. Still an ok part of the world to be dumped!

[Bsd]

wow...only 107 pax on a 747...no wonder they're bleeding. And like all other SE Asian carriers, they should have retired the 747-400 already. 

 

Doesn't help that the flight leaves Sydney right behind a Qantas A332 doing the same route.  Last time I flew, as the Qantas plane that I was on turned onto the runway I could see that the Thai flight was the next plane in the queue.

[chotthee]

There were 272 on board including me. What a complete mess they have made of this.

 

Even 272, that is less than 70% load factor. No wonder they are loosing money.

 

 

 

http://www.seatguru.com/airlines/Thai_Airways/Thai_Airways_Boeing_747-400_7442.php

[SeaVisionBurma]

Reply with messed up quotes removed.

[webfact]

Thai Airways jet makes emergency landing in Bali

DENPASAR, August 13, 2014 (AFP) - A Thai Airways plane en route from Sydney to Bangkok made an emergency landing on the Indonesian island of Bali after a crack was discovered in the cockpit window, officials said Wednesday.

 

The Boeing 747, carrying 273 passengers and 21 crew, was six hours into the journey Tuesday when the captain found the defect and decided to land on Bali, the airline said in a statement.

 

A spokesman for the island's airport described the landing at around 5:00 pm (0900 GMT) as a "minor disruption".

 

There were no reports of injuries and the passengers stayed in a Bali hotel overnight. They were set to fly on to Bangkok later Wednesday in another plane.

 

Thai Airways said it was sending a team to Bali to investigate the incident and supervise the changing of the damaged window.

 

In September last year, more than a dozen passengers were slightly injured when a Thai Airways jet skidded off the runway in Bangkok after the landing gear malfunctioned.

 

Just over a week before that incident, dozens of passengers and crew were injured when a Thai Airways A380 superjumbo hit severe turbulence during a flight from Bangkok to Hong Kong.

[afp]2014-08-13[/afp]

[Prbkk]

These incidents are minor and ,while delays are annoying, there was no real risk to passengers. Far more troubling is the directionless Thai Airways...bereft of strategy, falling load and yield, bleeding money, declining service levels, chaos and confusion in its FF program, absurd fleet management ( what happened to the A340s...still on the tarmac?), a union with way too much power and influence, unsustainable staff costs, flying routes that make no commercial sense, still beholden to the hiso freeloaders...all the while expecting that people will pay a PREMIUM to fly with them. Pan Am strategy.

[fisherd3]

Usually Boeing 787 have the cracked cockpit glass problem.

[3SoiDogNight]

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

 

wow...only 107 pax on a 747...no wonder they're bleeding. And like all other SE Asian carriers, they should have retired the 747-400 already. 

 

 

 

There were 272 on board including me. What a complete mess they have made of this.

 

Even 272, that is less than 70% load factor. No wonder they are loosing money.

 

 

 

http://www.seatguru.com/airlines/Thai_Airways/Thai_Airways_Boeing_747-400_7442.php

 

 

 

Those numbers do not tell the full story. Some of those passengers are premium paying customers in First Class an Business Class. There is a lot of business travel between Sidney an Bangkok.

I'm glad Thai Airways uses the 747 an by the way, their 747s aren't that old. They're among the youngest of the 747-400 series. 

There are still many -100s & -200s in use today that are 40 years old.

Also, Air China, Korean Air as well as Lufthansa has brand new 747-8Is.

Hopefully Thai Airways will eventually order new 747-8Is.

I LOVE that aircraft!

 

 

Prbkk:

Last I heard, the A340-500 has been sold to Aerolines Argentina. The A340-600s will remain in the fleet till 2017.

 

 

Say what you want but I'll take Thai Airways over Air Asia or any other airline any day!

Thai Airways is the best!

[Jdiddy]

275 passengers are ok, you cant expect 100% utilization every flight, what do you want them to do, cancel the flight and fly back empty? lol

 

 

Ive flown on a 747 from Auckland to San Fransisco with AirNZ with maybe 100 total passengers, had the entire row of seats to myself. Best flight ive done

 

[3SoiDogNight]

275 passengers are ok, you cant expect 100% utilization every flight, what do you want them to do, cancel the flight and fly back empty? lol

 

 

 

 

Agreed!

 

The sad thing is that United Airlines an Delta would have cancelled if they only had 100 seats. They rather cancel flights an over-sale flights an leave people stranded and or re-booked on a different flight. That is why US carriers suck so bad today. They have made so many cuts an hyper paranoid about the amount of highest fare passengers getting on-board to the point where it has hurt their customer service quality.   

I've had flights on United cancelled on me a few times. I have friends that work for United an was told that happens if there are too many lowest fare ticket holders on a route. I couldn't believe it at first but it's happened on several occasions. I feel bad for their gate agents because they get the most abuse as a result.

United has really gone downhill since being taken over by Continental.

Now when I go back to the US, I do long roadtrips or take Amtrak. Domestic US air travel now is punishment.
 

[soalbundy]

30 years ago or so i flew from Paris to Munich late at night with only one other person on board,i can't remember the aircraft type, an airbus i believe,i presume its like a bus service the bus is there and has to fly the route no matter how few passengers are on board

[Ricardo]

 

wow...only 107 pax on a 747...no wonder they're bleeding. And like all other SE Asian carriers, they should have retired the 747-400 already. 

 

 I've never understood the economics of them flying a 747 between Chiang Mai and Bangkok

 

 

Perhaps filling the slot, between its long-haul arrival in the early-morning wave, and its departure on the next long-haul run, at lunch-time ?

 

Better to do two hours in-the-air, earning money with a full (IME) load to/from CNX, than sit on the tarmac at Swampy.

[maoro2013]

Where in the past does it mention 747?

[uptheos]

"Passengers stayed in Bali overnight and the Thai Airways spokesman said they were scheduled to fly out at 4.05pm today, and to arrive in Bali at 7.20pm".  

[SeaVisionBurma]

Where in the past does it mention 747?

 

Assuming you meant 'post' instead of 'past', then here:  http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/751178-thai-airways-flight-from-sydney-to-bangkok-makes-emergency-landing-due-to-cracked-window/?p=8238062#entry8238062

[SeaVisionBurma]

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/THA476

[SOTIRIOS]

..Thai Airways.....and AOT.....

 

...when staff receive from 10 months to 2 years salary 'bonus'....every year.....

 

...the average age of Thai Airways fleet ........is now 'way up there'.........

[Archie Pelago]

..Thai Airways.....and AOT.....

 

...when staff receive from 10 months to 2 years salary 'bonus'....every year.....

 

...the average age of Thai Airways fleet ........is now 'way up there'.........

 

Please provide a link to show evidence of the salary bonus?

[emilymat]

30 years ago or so i flew from Paris to Munich late at night with only one other person on board,i can't remember the aircraft type, an airbus i believe,i presume its like a bus service the bus is there and has to fly the route no matter how few passengers are on board

You are probably right. Being an old codger, back in the 1960's I once travelled from Berlin to West Germany on a train that had one passenger (me). It had about 20 British Army guards!. It was the same principle, the train would run every day through Communist East Germany, irrespective of passengers.

[lumply]

 

These incidents are minor and ,while delays are annoying, there was no real risk to passengers. Far more troubling is the directionless Thai Airways...bereft of strategy, falling load and yield, bleeding money, declining service levels, chaos and confusion in its FF program, absurd fleet management ( what happened to the A340s...still on the tarmac?), a union with way too much power and influence, unsustainable staff costs, flying routes that make no commercial sense, still beholden to the hiso freeloaders...all the while expecting that people will pay a PREMIUM to fly with them. Pan Am strategy.

I would disagree that even slow de-pressurisation, once identified, is a minor incident. Most air accidents occur as a result of a series of incidents. A cracked windscreen would certainly be a distraction to the pilots and they would need to deploy quick donning oxygen masks above 10,000 feet and descend to oxygen altitude, another distraction etc etc. Individually perhaps not enough to endanger the safety of an aircraft if dealt with correctly, but collectively, potentially very serious indeed. Human factors is also another consideration.

[Mosha]

If it had being  a 777 the media would be full of it. Flying Thai is good, 4 seats on cattle class = a bed

[gchurch259]

 

There were 272 on board including me. What a complete mess they have made of this.

 

Even 272, that is less than 70% load factor. No wonder they are loosing money.

 

 

 

http://www.seatguru.com/airlines/Thai_Airways/Thai_Airways_Boeing_747-400_7442.php

 

Some years back when I attended Boeing B747 Factory Maintenance Training they said the aircraft could make money with cargo and little or no passengers. That was the B747-100/200 which has a considerablely less Max Take-off Weight aircraft. By the  way the B747-400 is an excellant aircraft and Boeing builds them to fly 20 plus years. The B777-300ER is the way to go these days.  I have been in aircraft maintence for over 50 years and currently manage several aircraft leased to airlines. The B747-8 Freighter is a great aircraft and they are

still building them.

[mumjokmok]

"Passengers stayed in Bali overnight and the Thai Airways spokesman said they were scheduled to fly out at 4.05pm today, and to arrive in Bali at 7.20pm".  

 

its a nice polite way of saying u will still be in bali in three and a half hours time.

[beechguy]

 

These incidents are minor and ,while delays are annoying, there was no real risk to passengers. Far more troubling is the directionless Thai Airways...bereft of strategy, falling load and yield, bleeding money, declining service levels, chaos and confusion in its FF program, absurd fleet management ( what happened to the A340s...still on the tarmac?), a union with way too much power and influence, unsustainable staff costs, flying routes that make no commercial sense, still beholden to the hiso freeloaders...all the while expecting that people will pay a PREMIUM to fly with them. Pan Am strategy.

I would disagree that even slow de-pressurisation, once identified, is a minor incident. Most air accidents occur as a result of a series of incidents. A cracked windscreen would certainly be a distraction to the pilots and they would need to deploy quick donning oxygen masks above 10,000 feet and descend to oxygen altitude, another distraction etc etc. Individually perhaps not enough to endanger the safety of an aircraft if dealt with correctly, but collectively, potentially very serious indeed. Human factors is also another consideration.

 

 

If the pilot's aren't stupid and follow emergency procedures, it's not a big deal.