Aviation News

PASSENGERS on board a flight in England failed to tell cabin crew they had seen a wheel fall off the plane after take-off, an investigation into the incident has found.

The flight crew was alerted to the drama by air traffic control and when the captain asked a flight attendant to inspect the right landing gear, she was then informed by passengers of the loss.

The AAIB’s report found that, “A number of passengers seated on the right side of the aircraft noticed sparks emanating from the right inboard wheel area during the takeoff roll and saw the right inboard wheel fall from the aircraft as the landing gear retracted. They did not inform the cabin crew at this point.”

Later, after the cabin crew member was sent by the pilot to investigate, “The passengers informed the [cabin crew member] of the loss of the wheel and she could see that the gear was retracted and the landing gear doors were closed, but parts of the landing gear mechanism were protruding.”

Missing wheel from the Dash 8

A Flybe engineer was a passenger on the flight and was called over to confirm the cabin crew member’s observations.

The 58-year-old pilot made a mayday call and some passengers were moved away from the right-hand-side of the plane. The pilot landed the plane using the front and left landing gear before gently touching down with the one remaining right-hand wheel.

The Dash 8 aircraft had 39 passengers and four crew on board during the emergency.

United Continental Holdings, Inc. has announced that they have selected Panasonic Avionics Corporation to make WiFi available on over 300 of their Airbus 319 and 320 and Boeing 747, 757, 767, 777 and 787 aircraft beginning in mid-2012.

For overseas flights, Ku-band technology will be used in order to provide uninterrupted service to United and Continental passengers. Not only is this something no other carrier currently offers, it is likely music to the ears of jet-setters who could make better use of their traveling time.

Future predictions have United Continental Holdings offering WiFi across their entire fleet by 2015.

This addition is going to be important in order for United Airlines and Continental Airlines to remain competitive with so many other airlines already offering WiFi for their clients, several of which doing so with Panasonic competitor Gogo. Whiles users of Gogo are happy to have WiFi at 10,000 feet most feel the service comes at much too high a cost, with unlimited access coming in at nearly US $40 per month.

Moves like this seem to support the idea that Internet access is becoming a requirement and a need as much as a luxury and useful tool. With business being done at the speed of the Internet not having access for a few hours can be a huge obstacle.

United Continental Holdings, Inc. engages over 80,000 employees to operate 5,717 flights a day to 376 airports on six continents for both United Airlines and Continental Airlines.

Would you choose an airline based on whether they provide WiFi? Do you appreciate the availability of WiFi so you can check emails and browse the web on your iPad, or do you miss the days when being in a flight to somewhere meant actually being allowed to be ‘unplugged’ for a few hours?

source: http://www.padgadget.com

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THE Qantas engineers’ union says it is sick of the company’s human resources managers telling them how to do their job, as negotiations resume for the first time since the airline was grounded.

Steve Purvinas, secretary of the Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association, said Qantas was trying to get rid of 128 engineers who perform safety checks on each flight. Such checks would only be conducted at the end of each day, he said, and the union wants the airline to retain 20 of those jobs to maintain a safety oversight over each flight.

By early afternoon, Qantas shares were down 1 cent to $1.605 in a weaker broader market.

“They just say we don’t have to do any more checks on aircraft that they think are unnecessary but we say they are required for safety reasons,” Mr Purvinas said today.

“Quite frankly, we’re sick of Qantas and their HR managers telling us about safety and aircraft engineering.

“They don’t know the difference between a wing and a wing nut.”

The parties have resumed discussions at Fair Work Australia in Melbourne today – the first time since the airline grounded its entire fleet in late October.

In the early hours of October 31, FWA gave the airline and union 21 days to reach a settlement. Under the FWA ruling, if they fail to reach a settlement, there is to be compulsory arbitration.

Mr Purvinas said further negotiations with Qantas would be held in Sydney on Thursday.

“By today, we’ll know whether Qantas are interested in negotiating an outcome or whether they’ll continue to stonewall, which has been the case up until now,” he said.

Mr Purvinas said discussions around pay had been settled and today’s negotiations would focus on job losses.

A Qantas spokesman said all matters remained on the negotiating table.

“There has been no agreement reached on pay with the union despite their claims to the contrary,” the spokesman said.

“We are committed to the negotiations before Fair Work Australia and believe that we should be able to reach an agreement over the 21-day period.”

Meanwhile, Independent senator Nick Xenophon said legislative changes are needed to prevent the Qantas fleet being grounded in the future on the say-so of one person. About 70,000 Qantas passengers were stranded in Australia and abroad when the airline grounded its entire fleet on October 29.

Qantas boss Alan Joyce has said the grounding decision was his alone, made in response to rolling industrial action by unions.

Senator Xenophon said the Qantas Sale Act needs to be amended by parliament to avoid a repetition of such action.

“Never again can a fleet of the nation’s flag carrier be grounded on the say of one person,” he told reporters in Canberra today.

“This was about an industrial dispute and that is something that needs to change.”

Senator Xenophon said Mr Joyce told a Senate inquiry on Friday he had acted unilaterally to ground the entire fleet.

“That is entirely unsatisfactory that it didn’t have to go the board of Qantas where there was no further hierarchy of responsibility,” he said.

source: http://www.theaustralian.com.au

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Exactly one year after a Qantas A380′s engine exploded over Indonesia, another superjumbo has been forced to divert due to engine trouble.

Flight QF31 from Singapore to London was diverted to Dubai after an oil problem.

Pilots shut down the number four engine of the Airbus A380 about 90 minutes after takeoff, Qantas spokeswoman Olivia Wirth said.

“Engineers are assessing that particular engine,” she said.

QF31 left Singapore at 12.32am local time (3.32am AEDT) on Friday on 14-hour flight to London.

Four pilots, 21 cabin crew and 258 passengers were on board.

The aircraft landed safely in Dubai 4.45am local time without further incident, the airline said.

Celebrity Stephen Fry is believed to have been one of the passengers on board QF31. He tweeted to his 3.3 million Twitter followers: “Bugger. Forced to land in Dubai. An engine has decided not to play.”

Fry later tweeted that passengers were still on board and he didn’t not know if they would be kept on the aircraft while the engine was repaired or allowed to disembark and enter the airport.

Fry is returning to London after touring Australia with his TV program QI.

It is a year to the day that flight QF32 from London to Sydney was forced to turn back to Singapore after the A380′s number two engine exploded, sending fragments of the turbine disc and other engine parts into the wing and fuselage.

The airline grounded all of its A380 jets for several weeks after the incident.

The problem was eventually found to have been caused by a leak from a flawed oil pipe.

None of the 433 passengers or 26 crew members was injured.

Qantas said the engine explosion and subsequent grounding of the fleet cost it an estimated $80 million.