IrishSheepdog
Sitting in the median
'Emergency' forces Qantas jet down
A Qantas flight was diverted to Frankfurt Airport in Germany because of a 'vibration in one of the engines'.
Qantas passengers flying from Sydney to London spent up to 12 hours grounded at Frankfurt airport after a mid-air "emergency issue", a passenger says.
Qantas Flight 31 from Singapore to London diverted to Frankfurt Airport for repairs to the engine, landing about 3.15pm yesterday, a Qantas spokeswoman said.
The Boeing 747-400 aircraft diverted "due to the captain being alerted to a vibration in one of the engines", a Qantas spokeswoman said. "As is standard procedure the engine was shut down," she said.
"There was no safety issue at any time and the aircraft continued to Frankfurt, where it landed without incident."
Jan Rees, an Australian who was returning to London after visiting family in Sydney, said she noticed a "roughness" during the flight.
"In the middle of the night there was a sort of roughness, like if a car is not quite in gear," said Mrs Rees.
"I did notice it but nothing was said. About 4.30am (about two-and-a-half hours before the flight landed), they said we are not going to London but to Frankfurt because of an emergency issue."
Frankfurt Airport duty manager Tino Ross said the landing was "not an emergency".
"It was a technical landing," he said. "There was a problem with engine four and the pilot decided to come into Frankfurt to repair the engine.
"There was no incident on landing."
But Mrs Rees said: "It was described as an emergency, a technical issue, but that they were in control."
Mrs Rees, who was eventually confined at Frankfurt for 12 hours before being placed on an alternate flight, said stranded passengers were given little information about what was happening.
"There were no Qantas staff there to help, the airport staff were pulling their hair out trying to sort out what had happened.
"We were told (by Qantas staff) that we'd be taken care of; five hours later we were told absolutely nothing.
A lot of people were getting very angry and distressed, and there were a lot of people with young children because of the end of school holidays over here.
"It was an absolute circus. To top it all off, they've left my bag in Frankfurt (after Mrs Rees was placed on an alternate Qantas/British Airways flight from Frankfurt to London)."
At Frankfurt airport, passengers from first and business class were taken one way and appeared to be placed on the first available alternate flights, Mrs Rees said.
Qantas engineers were investigating the cause of the engine problem.
The incident is the latest in a spate of mechanical problems affecting the Qantas fleet.
On July 25, a faulty oxygen bottle blew a hole in the fuselage of a Qantas Boeing 747-400 flying from Hong Kong to Melbourne.
The blast caused the aircraft, with 365 people on board, to depressurize and it rapidly descended several thousand feet before making an emergency landing in Manila.
On July 29, a Adelaide-Melbourne flight returned to Adelaide when a wheel bay door failed to close, while a hydraulic fluid leak forced a Boeing 767 to return to Sydney.
Hydraulics caused a flight to be delayed almost three hours in Sydney on August 4.
Three days later, a noisy air-conditioning fault forced the grounding of a jet that had recently returned from routine maintenance in Malaysia with 95 defects.
Then on August 12, Qantas announced it would temporarily pull six Boeing 737-400s from service after discovering an irregularity in maintenance paperwork.
On August 13, a Qantas Boeing 747-300 from Melbourne was grounded in New Zealand after an engine shut down on approach to Auckland.
On the same day, Qantas flight QF31 to London - the same flight affected by today's incident - was delayed because a crucial screw needed urgent maintenance, while a Boeing 767 jet had a hydraulic failure that affected the plane's steering as it landed at Sydney on a flight from Melbourne.
The plane left a trail of hydraulic fluid as it touched down, forcing the runway to close for 40 minutes as the spill was mopped up.
Two days later, on August 15, a technical problem delayed a Brisbane to Melbourne flight for more than 30 minutes, while a small body panel fell from a Qantas jumbo en route to Singapore from Melbourne.
On August 17, a rudder problem delayed the departure of a Sydney-bound plane at London's Heathrow Airport by more than 16 hours.
Three days later, two flights were cancelled between Perth and Sydney and Perth and Melbourne because of technical problems.
The Civil Aviation Safety Authority has established a team to examine issues including maintenance and safety systems at Qantas.
A Qantas flight was diverted to Frankfurt Airport in Germany because of a 'vibration in one of the engines'.
Qantas passengers flying from Sydney to London spent up to 12 hours grounded at Frankfurt airport after a mid-air "emergency issue", a passenger says.
Qantas Flight 31 from Singapore to London diverted to Frankfurt Airport for repairs to the engine, landing about 3.15pm yesterday, a Qantas spokeswoman said.
The Boeing 747-400 aircraft diverted "due to the captain being alerted to a vibration in one of the engines", a Qantas spokeswoman said. "As is standard procedure the engine was shut down," she said.
"There was no safety issue at any time and the aircraft continued to Frankfurt, where it landed without incident."
Jan Rees, an Australian who was returning to London after visiting family in Sydney, said she noticed a "roughness" during the flight.
"In the middle of the night there was a sort of roughness, like if a car is not quite in gear," said Mrs Rees.
"I did notice it but nothing was said. About 4.30am (about two-and-a-half hours before the flight landed), they said we are not going to London but to Frankfurt because of an emergency issue."
Frankfurt Airport duty manager Tino Ross said the landing was "not an emergency".
"It was a technical landing," he said. "There was a problem with engine four and the pilot decided to come into Frankfurt to repair the engine.
"There was no incident on landing."
But Mrs Rees said: "It was described as an emergency, a technical issue, but that they were in control."
Mrs Rees, who was eventually confined at Frankfurt for 12 hours before being placed on an alternate flight, said stranded passengers were given little information about what was happening.
"There were no Qantas staff there to help, the airport staff were pulling their hair out trying to sort out what had happened.
"We were told (by Qantas staff) that we'd be taken care of; five hours later we were told absolutely nothing.
A lot of people were getting very angry and distressed, and there were a lot of people with young children because of the end of school holidays over here.
"It was an absolute circus. To top it all off, they've left my bag in Frankfurt (after Mrs Rees was placed on an alternate Qantas/British Airways flight from Frankfurt to London)."
At Frankfurt airport, passengers from first and business class were taken one way and appeared to be placed on the first available alternate flights, Mrs Rees said.
Qantas engineers were investigating the cause of the engine problem.
The incident is the latest in a spate of mechanical problems affecting the Qantas fleet.
On July 25, a faulty oxygen bottle blew a hole in the fuselage of a Qantas Boeing 747-400 flying from Hong Kong to Melbourne.
The blast caused the aircraft, with 365 people on board, to depressurize and it rapidly descended several thousand feet before making an emergency landing in Manila.
On July 29, a Adelaide-Melbourne flight returned to Adelaide when a wheel bay door failed to close, while a hydraulic fluid leak forced a Boeing 767 to return to Sydney.
Hydraulics caused a flight to be delayed almost three hours in Sydney on August 4.
Three days later, a noisy air-conditioning fault forced the grounding of a jet that had recently returned from routine maintenance in Malaysia with 95 defects.
Then on August 12, Qantas announced it would temporarily pull six Boeing 737-400s from service after discovering an irregularity in maintenance paperwork.
On August 13, a Qantas Boeing 747-300 from Melbourne was grounded in New Zealand after an engine shut down on approach to Auckland.
On the same day, Qantas flight QF31 to London - the same flight affected by today's incident - was delayed because a crucial screw needed urgent maintenance, while a Boeing 767 jet had a hydraulic failure that affected the plane's steering as it landed at Sydney on a flight from Melbourne.
The plane left a trail of hydraulic fluid as it touched down, forcing the runway to close for 40 minutes as the spill was mopped up.
Two days later, on August 15, a technical problem delayed a Brisbane to Melbourne flight for more than 30 minutes, while a small body panel fell from a Qantas jumbo en route to Singapore from Melbourne.
On August 17, a rudder problem delayed the departure of a Sydney-bound plane at London's Heathrow Airport by more than 16 hours.
Three days later, two flights were cancelled between Perth and Sydney and Perth and Melbourne because of technical problems.
The Civil Aviation Safety Authority has established a team to examine issues including maintenance and safety systems at Qantas.
