TRANS Holes in the ceiling, floor on Qantas plane......emergency landing

Seeing into the cargo hold - I think I would be puking before the plane landed, not afterwards
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Big hole in Qantas plane forces emergency landing
Updated Fri. Jul. 25 2008 10:08 AM ET

CTV.ca News Staff

A London-to-Australia flight was forced to make an emergency landing Friday after a large hole was discovered in the Boeing 747-400's fuselage.

The flight, with Australian airline Qantas, landed in Manila, Philippines, shortly after the plane took off from a stopover in Hong Kong.

In a statement Friday, Qantas said there were no reports of injuries by any of the 346 passengers and 19 crew.

Qantas CEO Geoff Dixon confirmed in a press release Friday there was a hole in the plane's fuselage and that it was going to be inspected by engineers from Australia.

"Qantas is sending its own engineers to Manila," said Dixon.

"Qantas has provided all passengers with accommodation and a replacement aircraft has been arranged."

A report by the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA), quoting pilot John Francis Bartels, said an initial investigation suggested there was an "explosive decompression."

Gina Elorde, a journalist for the Manila Daily Tribune, said investigators are still looking at the possibility that it could have been a terrorist act.

However, "initial investigations show there was only a technical problem," Elorde told CTV's Canada AM on Friday.

Octavio Lina, MIAA deputy manager for operations, said the cabin's floor gave way -- exposing some of the plane's cargo.

Part of the ceiling also collapsed, said Lina.

"There is a big hole on the right side near the wing," he said, adding it was 2.5 to 3 metres in diameter.

Passengers react

Video shot by a passenger on the plane showed people sitting with their oxygen masks on as the plane descended to land.

Passengers on board the plane said they heard an explosion before the oxygen masks were released.

Architect Michael Rahill, 57, described the bang as "like a tire exploding, but more violently."

Marina Scaffidi, 39, from Melbourne, told The Associated Press there was "wind swirling around the plane and some condensation."

She said the hole stretched from the cargo hold into the passenger cabin.

"The plane kept going down not too fast, but it was descending," said Scaffidi.

"No one was very hysterical."

After the plane landed, all of the passengers applauded in joy.

Lina said some of the passengers vomited after landing.

With files from The Associated Press

Qantas Plane Dives 20,000 Feet After Hole Ripped Mid-Air in Fuselage
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,391024,00.html
Friday, July 25, 2008



July 25: An airline mechanic looks at the damaged right wing fuselage of a Qantas Airways plane at Ninoy Aquino International Airport.

MANILA, Philippines — A Qantas flight en route to Australia from London made an emergency stop in Manila on Friday after a loud bang punched a hole in the Boeing 747-400's fuselage, officials and passengers said.

There were no injuries, but some of the 345 passengers vomited after disembarking, said Manila International Airport Authority deputy manager for operations Octavio Lina.

In a statement from Sydney, Qantas confirmed the hole in its fuselage and said it was being inspected by engineers.

A report by the Manila International Airport Authority quoting pilot John Francis Bartels, said an initial investigation indicated there was an "explosive decompression." There were no details.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau said QF30 made an emergency descent from 29,000 feet to 10,000 feet.

Lina said the cabin's floor gave way, exposing some of the cargo beneath and part of the ceiling collapsed.

"There is a big hole on the right side near the wing," he said, adding it was 2.5 to 3 yards (meters) in diameter.

Passengers who talked to the media at the airport described hearing an explosion and then oxygen masks were released.

"One hour into the flight there was a big bang then the plane started going down," passenger Marina Scaffidi, 39, from Melbourne, told The Associated Press by phone from Manila airport. "There was wind swirling around the plane and some condensation."

She said the hole extended from the cargo hold into the passenger cabin.

"The plane kept going down not too fast, but it was descending," Scaffidi said, adding the jetliner was over the South China Sea when the staff informed passengers they were diverting to Manila.

"No one was very hysterical," she said.

Australia's Herald Sun Online quoted passengers as saying the plane plunged 20,000 feet after a door "popped" during the flight.

Michael Rahill, 57, an architect from Melbourne, said the bang sounded "like a tire exploding, but more violently."

The passengers were taken to several hotels while waiting for another plane to Melbourne, said an airline officer who declined to be identified because he wasn't authorized to talk to the media.

Chief Superintendent Atilano Morada, head of the police Aviation Security Group, said his officers, including explosives experts, may assist in the airline's investigation.

"So far, they don't want us to touch it, so we will respect the aircraft owner. But we will make our personnel available if they need assistance in the investigation," he said.

Doesn't look like an explosion to me.

Truthfully, it looks like the fairing just departed the airplane and ripped some other stuff off.

This struck me as odd this morning when I read it. I was under the impression that Qantas had a stellar safety record.

Probably metal fatigue, hole blew in baggage and took out fairing with it. Scary stuff.

NBCsurvivor said:

This struck me as odd this morning when I read it. I was under the impression that Qantas had a stellar safety record.

Click to expand...

Sometimes stuff just happens. Consider that most of their 747's routinely spend 16-18 hours at a pop flying over the Pacific, I think it's safe to say they are indeed VERY safe. MANY of the 747's out there have ten and eleven years of air time. As in, they have spent ten or eleven years of their life IN THE AIR. Most of them spend more time in the air than on the ground. I'll grant that I'm biased, but I think that the 747 is an incredibly safe airplane.

And they still do!

NBCsurvivor said:

This struck me as odd this morning when I read it. I was under the impression that Qantas had a stellar safety record.

Click to expand...

The crew reacted correctly, no passengers were injured and the plane landed safely. Their record is intact.

MARANATHA

Woo hoo--1500 posts!

RainMan was right.

Looks like a bomb hole to me. I wonder what lie they will tell this time?

Mark D said:

Sometimes stuff just happens. Consider that most of their 747's routinely spend 16-18 hours at a pop flying over the Pacific, I think it's safe to say they are indeed VERY safe. MANY of the 747's out there have ten and eleven years of air time. As in, they have spent ten or eleven years of their life IN THE AIR. Most of them spend more time in the air than on the ground. I'll grant that I'm biased, but I think that the 747 is an incredibly safe airplane.

Click to expand...

All good points. Just law of averages I guess. Accidents do indeed happen.

Maranatha said:

The crew reacted correctly, no passengers were injured and the plane landed safely. Their record is intact.

MARANATHA

Woo hoo--1500 posts!

Click to expand...

Oh yeah, crew did perfect from what I understand.

Early engineering reports that the 747 suffered metal fatigue caused by CORROSIAN....eekk

Well I guess we will have to step up our efforts to "Go Green" so we can take the harmful pollution out of the atmosphere so airplane metal will not become so brittle that is fall off right in the middle of a flight.

Understatement of the week: "[FONT=Verdana,Arial]there was only a technical problem."

[/FONT][FONT=Verdana,Arial]What is important, and they didn't tell us, is if the hole in the floor blew INTO the cabin or OUT into the luggage. If it was out into the luggage, then it was an accident. Otherwise, it was a boom boom in the luggage. I kind of doubt that, though, given that shreaded luggage would likely have been mentioned.[/FONT][FONT=Verdana,Arial]
[/FONT]

Note the luggage is still there -- so this was not a man-induced-event.

Mother Nature is just showing us that she can be a "biatch" sometimes.

So very glad all those folks prayers were answered and they arrived alive.

We need a Shorts change on ISLE 3, please!

Guys, I THINK I might listen to MarkD. He has no reason to mislead us and is an expert on the airframe.

Looks like metal fatigue on the fillet. One picture I saw showed the section removed right along the fillet edge. The fillet is a piece attached where the wings meet the body to make it more aerodynamic.

A London-to-Australia flight was forced to make an emergency landing Friday after a large hole was discovered in the Boeing 747-400's fuselage.

Talk about understatements, they made it sound like someone happened to look out a window and found a hole, and they decided to land just to be on the safe side.