The Qantas Anni Horribilis Master Thread

[flyguy]

seems Qantas now maintained that it was some "malfunction" and not turbulence?

[flyguy]

Perhaps speculatively when a fault was detected, the pilots turn-off the auto-pilot which resulted in the sudden fall. this have happened twice on SQ planes some years back.

[MAN Flyer]

The incident seems to be worse than I thought it was.

You and jhm.

[KeithMEL]

Interesting...

http://chiefofficers.net/888333888/c..._plane_to_drop

Aviation: was it a laptop WiFi that caused Qantas plane to drop?

Thursday 09 October 2008

Whilst we would hesitate to call the Discovery Channel programme "Mythbusters" authoritative, when they tested electronics and aircraft avionics, stuff that tells the pilot what do do went haywire. Now Australian investigators are wondering if a WiFi device on the Airbus plane that behaved strangely might have been at the root of the problem.

[flyguy]

somewhat too radical or ridiculous to suggest wifi may have caused the plane dive - as at 35,ooo feet, there's no wifi signal even to speak about.

[soak01]

Australian media outlets are now reporting that the lap-top theory has been dismissed.

Looks like another QF What The........?

[matt_will_fix_it]

somewhat too radical or ridiculous to suggest wifi may have caused the plane dive - as at 35,ooo feet, there's no wifi signal even to speak about.

But laptops have wi-fi devices built in, so are effectively wi-fi transmistters. Other radio transmitters on board are mobile phones.

Now if that can cause a plane to dive is another story...

[KeithMEL]

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au...-23349,00.html

RETURNING home after visiting his fiancee in Singapore, Tim Ellett found flight QF72 from Changi to Perth began like the 12 other trips he had taken before.

The Airbus A330-300 jet that carried Mr Ellett and the 302 other passengers is one of the most technologically advanced planes in the world. It is also reputed to be one of the safest.

But three hours after takeoff, the jet plunged 650ft, injuring 50 passengers, some seriously. And it has now emerged that the calamity has striking similarities with two previous incidents, including an emergency involving a Singapore Airlines flight in 1996.

In these cases, questions were raised about the design of the A330's cockpit, including whether it could lead to both pilots, instead of just one, inadvertently overcorrecting the plane, resulting in the plane's computers recording a double input.

...

In 1996 a Singapore Airlines A340-300 -- which has an identical cockpit to the A330 -- suffered a "severe upset" over central Australia after crew inadvertently switched the hydraulic pumps off, forcing the aircraft to pitch up. A violent plunge followed when both pilots took a corrective action simultaneously.

According to an Airbus pilot who spoke to The Weekend Australian, the Airbus flight computers algebraically assess information, and if both pilots take the same action in an emergency situation, often due to instinct, the effects can be doubled.

[up and away]

Well has the turbulence theory been dismissed already or is the press just making wild guesses?


BTW: Mobiles & laptops usually don't use frequencies used by such things as plane computers... otherwise they wouldn't get certified for general sale!

[matt_will_fix_it]

BTW: Mobiles & laptops usually don't use frequencies used by such things as plane computers... otherwise they wouldn't get certified for general sale!

Thanks up and away - I'm wondering then why they say you must switch off your mobile at all times during the flight...

[up and away]

Thanks up and away - I'm wondering then why they say you must switch off your mobile at all times during the flight...

Well, a mobile phone wouldn't the plane but these rules were made a long time ago when mobile phones were a new thing and some people thought they might affect some aircraft systems.
Some airlines actually wanted to lift the ban on mobiles (I think the discussions started somewhere around last January) but customers weren't too impressed...

[KeithMEL]

Cause appears to have been definitively pinned to a computer glitch. Airbus has issued a global alert:

http://www.australianit.news.com.au/...-15306,00.html

EUROPEAN plane-maker Airbus has warned A330 operators around the world to guard against potential computer problems after last week's roller-coaster ride by a Qantas jet.
The global alert comes after investigators found that a faulty unit that provides information about the plane's movement and position resulted in the autopilot disconnecting and prompted flight control computers to pitch the plane's nose downward.

More than 70 people were injured, 14 seriously, when they were thrown around the cabin as the plane pitched down violently near Learmonth, in Western Australia northwest, while en route from Singapore to Perth.

The jet diverted to Learmonth and the worst injured were airlifted to Perth by the Royal Flying Doctor Service.

Investigators said last night the false information from an air data inertial reference unit (ADIRU) fed "very high, random and incorrect values".

The ADIRU supplies information such as air speed, altitude and position.

[flyguy]

if its true that the ADIRU caused erroneous readings, then its like the same exact things that happened to a MAS 777 over Perth a couple of years ago - afterwhich there were some changes made in the software.

[up and away]

~good thing it didn't kill anyone

[soak01]

Qantas Flight "Piggy-Backs" Air NZ

Australian media are reporting another bad day for QF with a fault causing QF12 flying LAX to SYD having to follow an Air NZ LAX-AKL flight across the pacific to AKL for repairs.

http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/s...006301,00.html

More here with pics.

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.a...657309&rss=yes