Another Qantas aircraft makes emergency landing

Another Qantas plane had to make an emergency landing just 3 days after a hole ripped through the fuselage of a Qantas 747.

The plane bound for Melbourne had to turn back to Adelaide with a mechanical problem. The pilot had told passengers there was a problem with the landing gear after it failed to retract after the Boeing 737-800 took off.

A Qantas spokeswoman said: "there was no risk to passengers’ safety during the “routine air turnback”.

Investigators have since found evidence that an oxygen tank had exploded onboard the 747 which eventually landed safely in the Phillipines on Friday.

Oxygen canister found to be missing from Qantas 747.

An exploding oxygen canister has been suspected of blowing the big hole in the fuselage of the Qantas 747 en-route to Melbourne. The airline has been ordered to check all the oxygen bottles on its 30 fleet of 747s.

After the pilot had to make an emergency landing in Manila one of the oxygen bottles usually stored in the area where the explosion occurred was found to be missing.

Reports have also come to light that some of the oxygen masks onboard the aircraft were in poor condition and some didn't even deploy nearly causing some passengers to pass out.

An hour after departing Honk Kong a loud bang was heard and the aircraft descended from 29,000 feet to 10,000. All crew and passengers embarked unharmed.

Investigators have said no evidence of an explosive material has been found onboard the plane or in any luggage.

2 Metre hole blown in fuselage of Qantas Boeing 747 Jumbo.

Qantas have always maintained a 100% safety record but concerns have now been raised when a 747 on its way to Melbourne had to make an emergency landing in the Phillipines.

A loud bang was heard onboard the aircraft which blew a 2 metre hole in the fuselage and a forum for the Airline Industry said the plane had 'serious corrosion issues'.

One entry was reported saying "serious issues have been detected on VH-OJK while undergoing maintenance at Avalon [Melbourne Airport]."

VH-OJK is the specific registration code for the plane.

The entry, written by someone describing himself as an 'in-flight operations employee' continued: "This is the first aircraft to undergo cabin reconfiguration with the all new Premium Y/C cabin.

"Sources tell me the launch date has further slipped once to 5th of March operating the QF001 SYD-BKK-LHR route. Let's keep our fingers crossed and hope OJK recovers from her plastic surgery!"

Qantas have confirmed the plane had undergone maintenance and Chief Executive Officer Geoff Dixon has said that preliminary checks didn't indicate corrosion near the hole.

The plane which had departed from London Heathrow and had stopped over at Hong Kong with 346 passengers was built in 1991. Whilst they were flying over the South China Sea people heard a loud bang which led to cabin decompression and oxygen masks releasing.

In order to stabilise the cabin pressure the Captain lowered the plane to 10,000ft and then went on to complete a safe emergency landing. Nobody was hurt and engineers are now conducting a full investigation into what happened.

Qantas haven't suffered a serious air accident since 1951 and have a fantastic safety record.

Boeing delay order of Dreamliner to Qantas Airlines

Qantas are currently looking to seek compensation for the delivery of its Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft being delayed. The airline have said that this won't affect its operations or put a dent in its earnings.

Boeing have assured Qantas that the 15 Dreamliners which were due to be delivered between August 2008 and December 2009 would all be received by the 2009 date.

“Boeing said the August 2008 aircraft would slip, but not by six months,'' said Chief Executive Geoff Dixon, ”Once that aircraft arrives, the remaining 14 aircraft deliveries will be staggered until December 2009.''

Qantas have put in 65 definate orders for the aircraft, 20 options and 30 purchase rights.

”Once Boeing confirms a revised delivery schedule we will assess the need for any other measures such as delaying the retirement of aircraft,'' he later said

”Compensation issues will be the subject of commercial negotiations between the Qantas and Boeing companies.''