Qantas passengers on a plane where seven people were hurt today reported a sudden drop in attitude.
A Qantas statement said Flight QF68 from Hong Kong, an Airbus A330-300, encountered turbulence over Borneo, four hours into the journey.
Six passengers and a crew member sustained minor injuries and were initially treated on board.
There was also minor damage to some overhead panels and two oxygen masks were dislodged.
One of the 206 passengers on the plane, John, said there was a loud bang followed by a sudden drop in altitude.
“As the plane was flying we got the normal turbulence but what happened this time was a sudden drop in altitude,” he told commercial radio.
“I was sitting at the exit door and I had this lady, (who) was waiting at the restroom and she flew up and hit the ceiling and came crashing down to the floor,” he said.
“It was just a matter of a few seconds but it (the turbulence) was really sudden and things went flying…”
John said the elderly woman who hit the ceiling was shaken.
“She was on the floor and she was just traumatised…” he said.
Qantas said the aircraft operated normally after the incident and, following medical advice, proceeded to Perth.
It landed safely at around 7.45am local time (9.45am Melbourne time).
A Qantas spokesman described the cause as “a severe meteorological incident.”
The aircraft is an Airbus A330-300, and the incident has been reported to the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB), which will investigate.
The airline insists there is no reason to link the incident to other recent inflight incidents involving A330 aircraft.
There were 206 passengers and 13 flight and cabin crew on the aircraft.
The aircraft was being flown by an experienced crew led by Captain Brett Flack, the Qantas statement said.
A Qantas support team, along with medical personnel, were at Perth Airport for the aircraft’s arrival..
Meanwhile, a Qantas flight bound for Melbourne required two attempts to land this morning.
A Qantas spokesman said flight QF094 from Los Angeles had descended to about 1000ft on approach to Tullamarine when changing wind conditions forced the pilot to do a “go-around”.
The plane circled the airport once before landing seven minutes after its scheduled arrival.
The spokesman said go-arounds were routine.
Source: The Herald Sun
By: steve rowell - 26th June 2009 at 04:46
Just remember Keltic when you’re flying through severe turbulence at forty thousand feet … every part of the airframe you’re flying in… right down to the last rivet …was built by the lowest bidder
By: keltic - 24th June 2009 at 20:56
I am off to Singapore next friday. On my nerves again.
SQ A380 from London. Should I be happy?. Not quite. I have to admit that lately storms and turbulences are being a kind of headache for me. I don´t want to say, I am a flying piece of jelly, but I wonder how adverse is weather in Singapore. I know scattered t storms means little and frequent showers with lightening in local areas. I know 6:30 is not a proper time for a big storm to develop. SQ know their place, and are quite used to handle with the situation but still a matter of concern, because I don´t understand storms.
Probably because not many times pilots have explained the procedures, and media tend to alarm people. I have never thought of the actually encountering one in the middle of the flying path. But AF447 still keeps me asking…..Why did they get in there?. Why AF got into trouble while landing in Montreal?. Are we pushing the limits too much?. I am not assessing anything just asking.
I would love to hear some comments about the kind of storms one could encounter, how to know if all black clouds are necessarily turbulent, and if it´s starting be something wrong with the weather screens. I have some occurences in my mind, and despite the A380 being more stable I am really uneased, or more than usual.
Are we losing the battle of information?. Why can´t I trust clouds on landing?.
By: steve rowell - 24th June 2009 at 01:51
Why Qantas should ground the A330 due to a turbulence encounter?.
It’s sensationalist media hype …it sells papers…a couple of weeks ago it was “massive” jumbo falls out of the sky over the Atlantic
By: Rickt - 23rd June 2009 at 23:43
Here we go again………..
Rule number 1 – Wear seatbelt.
Rick
By: keltic - 23rd June 2009 at 18:11
Two days ago, an Air Pullmantur encounters turbulence in the middle of the Atlantic. Some passengers reported injured. Of course the media wasn´t interested in the news……….it seems that they are more concerned that the incidents be only Airbus ones.
Why Qantas should ground the A330 due to a turbulence encounter?.
By: KabirT - 23rd June 2009 at 07:05
Don’t mean to hijack the thread or anything but talking about media frenzy…get a load of this.
TIMES OF INDIA
Bad weather forces plane to abort landing
19 Jun 2009
TNNAHMEDABAD: Panic gripped passengers aboard a Jetlite flight between Mumbai and Ahmedabad when inclement weather forced the aircraft to abort landing at the domestic airport on Thursday evening.
The flight had left Mumbai at 7.30 pm and was scheduled to land at 8.30 pm. It reached on time but trouble struck while the plane got ready to touch down. The aircraft started shuddering causing panic among passengers.
Kaushal Shah, general manager of a prominent corporate house, said, “The plane was about to touch down when it started shuddering. The flight took off instead of landing. Several passengers, especially women and children, started crying. For a good 20 minutes, the aircraft circled over the city.”
At 9 pm, the flight took a second attempt at landing at the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel airport, Ahmedabad. This time it was a clean touch down.
Passengers greeted the safe landing with a loud applause. It seemed like a second coming for many abroad the flight. Kaushal said, “I felt that this is a second chance for all of us. We had lost all hope. I spoke to a crew member of the flight. He told us that it was due to bad weather that they had to abort landing.”
Jet Airways officials said, “Due to heavy rains coupled with strong winds, we had to circle over Ahmedabad. When we got weather clearance, we landed again safely. There was no technical snag in the aircraft.”
:rolleyes:
By: steve rowell - 23rd June 2009 at 04:56
The local media have gone into a frenzy here…headlines of this is the same type as the Air France plane that crashed last week…should Qantas and Jetstar ground this troubled Airbus…followed by a picture of an A320
By: J Boyle - 22nd June 2009 at 22:35
RE: The dangers of turbulence…
Wasn’t a passenger killed a couple of years ago from hitting the ceiling?
By: KabirT - 22nd June 2009 at 17:47
we don’t have a cruise on the motorway. :(:o
Either way i agree…. i don’t know what is achieved by taking the belt off during the flight.
By: Ren Frew - 22nd June 2009 at 11:26
People really need to learn the importance of keeping their seatbelts on during turbulent periods and in fact all periods of flight. You don’t suddenly just take your car seat belt just because you’ve entered ‘the cruise’ on the motorway do you ?
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June 22, 2009 at 2:16 am