Has QANTAS Ever Written A Plane Off?

Started by Bus 400, June 11, 2013, 10:35:02 PM

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Bus 400

In discussions with a former Canberra Airport employee (someone I suspect other members wouldn't of known). He said something about QANTAS recently fixing one of their planes, that was in one of those major incidents. This was instead of writing it off as QANTAS has apparently never written a plane off & this would affect their safety rating/name. While I forget which plane was involved, it sounds a bit bizarre to me.

smitho

Wasn't there an issue with that A 380 that was damaged in that fairly serious incident early in its life?

Sir Pompously

VH-OQA was repaired after an un-contained turbine disc failure in the engine. Lots of damage to the wing and other parts, subsequently repaired and returned to service. QANTAS has not suffered a "hull loss" for any jet aircraft it has operated.

smitho

According to Wiki, repairs (in Singapore) cost around $139 million in 2011 and 2012....suggests it may not have been all that close to being a 'write-off'.....although repair price would have been a great deal higher if undertaken in Australia.

Wiki states that it was found that the aircraft's No.2 engine (on the port side nearest the fuselage), a Rolls-Royce Trent 900, had a missing turbine disc. The aircraft had also suffered damage to the nacelle, wing, fuel system, landing gear, flight controls, and to the controls for engine No.1.

The Love Guru

Was it a QANTAS plane they put in the bay at Sydney airport many moons ago? It wasn't a jet, I just can't remember who the operator was.

smitho

Quote from: The Love Guru on June 13, 2013, 06:39:08 AM
Was it a QANTAS plane they put in the bay at Sydney airport many moons ago? It wasn't a jet, I just can't remember who the operator was.

You might be thinking of the Ansett-ANA Viscount disaster of the early 1960s. Viscounts weren't jets in the modern day sense, although it suited the Federal Government of the time to call them jet propelled aircraft (technically correct I suppose, as jet engines made the propellers go around).

Qantas-constituent airline, TAA (later became Australian Airlines), also had accidents involving loss of life, including passengers, although these occurred long before its merger with Qantas.

Extract from Wiki refers:-

On 30 November 1961 a Vickers Viscount aircraft departed from Sydney, Australia in the evening for a flight of 128 nautical miles (237 kilometres) to Canberra. There were thunderstorms to the north and south of the airport. From about 9 minutes after takeoff the crew of Ansett-ANA Flight 325 did not respond to radio calls. The flight did not arrive at its destination and authorities received no report of a crash. Throughout the night no-one knew the fate of the aircraft or its occupants.

The next day wreckage and a fuel slick were found on the surface of Botany Bay. The aircraft had been drawn into a thunderstorm and subjected to extreme turbulence. It had broken up and crashed into Botany Bay, less than 3 statute miles from where it took off. All fifteen people on board died.[1][2][3] The loss of Ansett-ANA Flight 325 was the first fatal accident suffered by Ansett since commencement of operations as Ansett Airways Pty Ltd in 1935.

The Love Guru


belcodriver

Quote from: smitho on June 13, 2013, 12:30:48 AM
According to Wiki, repairs (in Singapore) cost around $139 million in 2011 and 2012....suggests it may not have been all that close to being a 'write-off'.....although repair price would have been a great deal higher if undertaken in Australia.

Wiki states that it was found that the aircraft's No.2 engine (on the port side nearest the fuselage), a Rolls-Royce Trent 900, had a missing turbine disc. The aircraft had also suffered damage to the nacelle, wing, fuel system, landing gear, flight controls, and to the controls for engine No.1.

That incident was totally preventable. The cause of the engine problem was an oil pipe that had been drilled off centre, the extra thin wall gave way and then boom. Rolls Royce knew about the problem but instead of doing a recall was fixing the problem as those engines returned to it for scheduled maintennance.

I read QF32 the book about the incident by the captain, Richard de Crespigny a few months ago. Not a bad read but he barely mentioned Rolls Royce's money grubbing stupidity that nearly killed him and hundreds of others. Seeing as he is still a Qantas captain I suspect Qantas had a hand in censoring the book.

smitho

Belcodriver:  Isn't there still a legal compensation case going on between Qantas and Rolls Royce?

belcodriver

Quote from: smitho on June 14, 2013, 10:41:47 PM
Belcodriver:  Isn't there still a legal compensation case going on between Qantas and Rolls Royce?

Nope, compensation was announced in June 2011, see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qf32#Compensation_and_repairs

Pretty sure the book came out late last year. Maybe part of the settlement was that Qantas and its employees not mention RR's gross negligence.

ZIB 688

As far as I know you are absolutely correct, its all about maintaining the Qantas image and branding.

IIRC, after the QF 744 overran the runway at Bangkok in 1999, the insurance company assessed the aircraft as a write-off but Qantas insisted the aircraft be repaired.

The aircraft was repaired and flew safely without further incident until last year when it was retired.

ajw373

Two things people get wrong about Qantas is the premise they have never had a crash (read write or fatality if you will) and that they are the oldest airline in the world.

I will debunk the latter first as KLM is actually older being founded 7 October 1919 VS Qantas 16 November 1920. However Qantas is the oldest continually operating airline as KLM was foced to shut up shop for a short period of time during the war. This technicality is the bit people forget. It could also be argued in some ways that Qantas too shut up shop because most if not all of their a/c during the 2nd world war were dedicated to the war effort, but operated by Qantas, they did little if any private airline work during that time.

The second one is that Qantas has never had a crash/write off/fatality, what ever you will. This is also very much untrue. Qantas has had several crashes and fatalities. What confuses people though is the claim is true if you say never in the jet age.

PS to those who say that Qantas won't write a/c off to protect their image, I have news for you, the insurance company is the one who decides if a plane is a write off. Just like they do for motor vehicles etc.