Oxygen tank explosions eyed as Qantas jet hole culprit

[RamboLiberal]

Source: USA Today/AP

MANILA (AP) — Australian investigators were exploring the possibility that an oxygen cylinder could have exploded midflight on the Qantas jumbo jet that made a harrowing emergency landing in the Philippines with a giant hole in its fuselage, an official said Sunday.

The Boeing 747-400 had 346 passengers aboard when it was shaken by what passengers described as an explosion. Oxygen masks dropped from the ceiling as the plane descended rapidly and debris flew through the cabin from a 9-foot (3-meter) hole that suddenly appeared

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"There are oxygen cylinders contained in the cargo compartment, but the relevance of that will certainly be covered in the investigation," he told reporters.

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Boeing spokeswoman Liz Verdier said the design of the Qantas jet includes dozens of oxygen tanks located throughout the lower part of the aircraft, including below the passenger compartment where the hole is.





Read more: http://www.usatoday.com/travel/flights/2008-07-27-oxygen-qantas_N.htm

[MrModerate]

1. Dang, I fly Qantas all the time, and have regarded them . . .

As a pretty good airline (and the preferred carrier for getting out of Australia). The one passenger who reported seeing an unsecured panel, a worn door seal, and malfunctioning HVAC system as he boarded the plane definitely gives me pause.

Maybe Singapore next time, despite the cost and limited flights out of Brisbane.

[EFerrari]

2. The report I saw showed how the panel came off right at the rivets.

Like two seams coming undone.

[MrModerate]

3. Maintenance is maintenance . . . if the cabin's crap . . .

What about the rest of the plane?

[EFerrari]

4. I don't know how you frequent flyers do it., MrModerate.

I had to drug myself the last time I flew to DC.

[MrModerate]

5. Ahem . . . drugs help. Just leave any that aren't in your system . . .

Back home. And when they offer you a blood test (Indonesia, say, or maybe Malaysia), just politely decline.

[EFerrari]

6. LOL! My ex used to smuggle pot on flights all the time

and I wanted to kill him for it. As if being on a plane wasn't bad enough.

Myself, I have never really enjoyed illegal substances because the logical consequence is a diet of room temperature baloney sandwiches which I also do not prefer. :)

Somehow I've forced myself onto flights from San Francisco to Latin America, Hawaii, London, DC. Every time it's the LAST time and involves accepting certain death with my peanuts.

lol

[MrModerate]

7. In this part of the world, they take drug smuggling waaaay too seriously . . .

At present there's a Newsweek (I think) stringer in jail in Singapore for bringing in about a gram of methedrine -- he's facing 20 years and 15 strokes of the cane. Indonesia has a young Aussie woman who tried to bring in a couple of kilos of pot in her boogie board bag in jail for 20 years. (Poor girl, someone stole the bribe carried with the drugs before it got to the proper Indonesian bureaucrat.) Another group of sub-genius surfer types from Australia on are on death row in Bali for bringing in heroin. They'll kill 'em too -- none of this on-death-row-for-a-decade business.

While I'm happy to be out of the States these days (and able to convince most people I run across that I'm Canadian), I will say that the way they enforce the law around here has certainly made me a law-abiding fellow.

[TheMadMonk]

8. Whilst I don't agree with the war on drugs and the way it is run, ...

...nor do I have much sympathy for people who chose to act as drug couriers. FFS people who knowingly bet their lives against less than a single year's income, rank right up there with republican voters in my estimation. Perhaps they do not deserve to die, but for their own good and the good of others they most certainly deserve to be segregated from the rest of society indefinitely.

I am not talking about poor ignorant peasants force to be drug mules here, but supposedly well educated middle class young adults.

[MrModerate]

9. Agreed. Stupidity is often fatal. Evolution in action.

[Violet_Crumble]

11. It'd be easy to convince people yr a Canadian...

I can't tell the difference between an American and a Canadian accent...

[MrModerate]

12. It's pretty subtle . . .

Nothing like an Aussie vs a Kiwi or a Brit . . . but distinct if you're a Yank or a Canuck (and I had to think awhile to come up with the nickname for "Canadian").

[EFerrari]

21. My ex had a Canadian mom. The easiest way to tell is to force

the suspect to say "toast".

Canadians say, "toh - st" - with a longer vowel and a little aspiration.

Americans say, "toe - st" - a shorter vowel and less aspiration.

[Violet_Crumble]

10. I've always flown Qantas when I can...

I'm terrified of flying, so their great safety record was reassuring to me. Also, it seemed to me like I had more legroom than I did when I flew from Sydney to London with British Airways. My travel agent was oorganising my flights yesterday for my trip to Europe early next year, and she'd gotten me Cathay Pacific from Sydney to Hong Kong, Finnair from there to Helsinki and then on to Budapest. Sounded great until she said: 'And I've got you on Qantas coming home from London.' I was too wussy to tell her I'm a bit scared to fly with Qantas anymore, and I figure it could have been worse - she could have booked me on Garuda or Aeroflot ;)

[MrModerate]

13. Isn't funny the way both Indonesia and Russia have used . . .

the word for "certain death" for their leading airlines?

[bean fidhleir]

20. You think "Aeroflot" means "certain death"? Or is that a joke too subtle for me?

It actually means "air fleet".

[MrModerate]

22. Probably not too subtle, just too weak. they can't all be gems. n/t

[The Croquist]

14. Most Airlines are phenomenally safe

and Qantas is no exception. If you think about all the things that can go wrong and then look at the total number of flights it will make you head spin. There are about 55,000 airline flights a day yet months go by without accidents and usually it is a third world airline.

[Psephos]

23. You've got to be kidding - Qantas has an extraordinary safety record n/t

[AngryAmish]

24. Rainman nods

[DallasNE]

15. Wasn't There A Jet That Crashed In Florida

A few years ago as a result of an oxygen tank explosions? Why are dangerous materials still being allowed in the cargo hole of passenger jets. It is one thing to ship those by UPS and quite another to put them in a plane with 340 people on board. We got lucky this time.

[Spouting Horn]

16. An improperly stowed

oxygen tank caught on fire on a Value Jet (now Airtran) flight (MIA-ATL) over the everglades.

[The Croquist]

17. The oxygen tanks weren't cargo

They are part of the planes equipment. They are the tanks that provide oxygen to the passengers and crew in the event of de-pressurization (like what happened on this flight).

[high density]

19. No, the ValuJet crash was from chemical oxygen generators, not tanks

And these generators shouldn't have been shipped on the plane to begin with because they're considered hazardous materials. They were improperly stored and improperly marked by a Valujet contractor. They create a lot of heat when in use, and one of them went off during the flight. This started a huge fire and Valujet 592 crashed. What happened to this Qantas plane is something different.

[Ian David]

18. AGAIN?? Didn't we supposedly solve this problem years ago? n/t

[WheelWalker]

25. From one who use to jump out of a perfectly good airplane into a forest fire,

I won't fly without a parachute.

[mallard]

26. Qantas probe focuses on oxygen tank

Source: Yahoo! News (AP)

MANILA, Philippines -

"Investigators found fragments that appear to bolster the theory that an oxygen tank exploded on a Qantas jet, forcing it to make a dramatic emergency landing with a car-sized hole in its fuselage, an official said Monday.

"Neville Blyth, a senior investigator from the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, said a valve and other small fragments would be tested to determine if they came from the tank, which is designed to provide oxygen to passengers during an emergency.

"He said the fragments were found in the passenger cabin close to where the missing tank was stored in the cargo hold, along with five other cylinders.

"The Boeing 747-400 had to make an emergency landing after a quick descent from 29,000 feet (8,800 meters) Friday. The 365 passengers and crew, who reported hearing a loud bang before the plane suddenly depressurized, were not injured."

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080728/ap_on_re_as/philippines_emergency_landing_61

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Right Guard in wrong bag?