Another safety scare for Qantas By PAUL ROBINSON and ROBERT WAINWRIGHT

Qantas has confirmed yet another safety scare, this time on a flight between Cairns and Sydney.

Pilots cut power from one of two engines on flight QF567 on Monday after losing oil pressure about 10,000 metres above Brisbane, Qantas said yesterday.

Earlier, the same flight made two unsuccessful attempts to take off from Cairns airport. This was caused by "a broken wire" which prompted warning lights to flash, a Qantas spokeswoman said.

About 200 holidaymakers heading back to Sydney were on board the flight and Qantas said it was treating the incidents seriously.

The news came as the airline admitted that cabin crew may have acted too aggressively during the weekend emergency in Rome - when landing gear collapsed - and owed passengers an apology.

The executive general manager of operations, Mr David Forsyth, defended the actions of the crew aboard QF16 from Rome, but confirmed the company was investigating two incidents in which a male and female member of the crew became "assertive" with passengers.

Some passengers have complained that one crew member "lost it" while another allegedly told passengers: "For Christ's sake, would everybody get moving."

The Cairns and Rome incidents follow an accident in Bangkok last year when an airliner overshot the runway, resulting in a $100 million repair bill, and the recall on April 9 of a flight from Sydney to Manila when the plane developed fuel valve problems.

Monday's incident has been reported to the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, which will make further inquiries later this week. Qantas technicians yesterday replaced the 767-200 engine while investigators examined the oil pressure problem.

The Herald was told about the Cairns-Sydney flight by a Qantas staffer who detailed other incidents that have occurred during the past 12 months. The staffer, who refused to be named, said Qantas was making its employees work too hard, which risked safety standards. "It's the pressure. Everyone's being pushed to the limit all the time. Since Bangkok we've been asked to do things we just haven't got time to do. It's just to cover their backs," he said.

The company spokeswoman rejected attacks on the company's safety standards and said its program was sound and well within acceptable limits.

Referring to the Cairns incident, she said: "We treat anything like this very seriously." While not seeking to play down the incident she said similar problems happened regularly among all international airlines and were an unavoidable part of a managed safety and repair program.

A spokesman for the Australian Transport Safety Bureau said the case would have to be examined on its merits but added that 767-200s were certified to fly on one engine and were even able to glide with auxiliary power. "These are extremely well engineered aircraft," he said.

The Victorian secretary of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union, Mr Julius Roe, said the latest incident highlighted the need for a moratorium on the contracting out of Qantas maintenance services and on the increasing intensity of airline work.

Mr Roe called on the Government to intervene and investigate standards at the national carrier: "This is not just a matter for Qantas. Where's the Government? Where's the regulator? Why aren't they supporting our calls to halt the contracting out of vital maintenance services?"

http://www.smh.com.au/news/0004/26/national/national01.html

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), April 25, 2000

Answers

afr.com.au Wednesday, April 26, 2000

Qantas remains a safe airline says CASA

Source: AAP | Published: Wednesday Apr 26, 2:03 PM

Qantas remained a safe airline, despite a series of safety scares and two major accidents in the past seven months, the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) said today.

While there was no evidence to suggest systemic maintenance problems at Qantas, each incident would be thoroughly investigated, CASA spokesman Peter Gibson said.

Part of an undercarriage of a Melbourne-bound flight carrying 303 passengers collapsed before take-off from Rome on Sunday and last September, an aircraft overshot the runway at Bangkok airport causing $100 million damage.

There have also been a series of other incidents including the latest on a Cairns- Sydney flight on Monday.

Pilots cut power from one of the two engines on flight QF567 after losing oil pressure.

"I think it is an unfortunate case of a string of mishaps," Mr Gibson said.

"There's nothing to connect any of them at this stage in terms of building some sort of systemic picture of problems.

"That's why we're treating them as individual accidents and incidents."

The CASA was awaiting final reports from the Bangkok accident and a preliminary report from Rome, Mr Gibson said.

The incident on Monday had to be taken seriously and investigated thoroughly but it was "not the end of the world", he said.

"At this point, there is no evidence to indicate Qantas is generally unsafe, it is still a safe airline," he said.

http://www.afr.com.au/update/20000426/A25339-2000Apr26.html

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), April 26, 2000.