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2008 jumbo incident 'unique'
Source: Agencies |
November 23, 2010, Tuesday
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AN oxygen bottle explosion that tore a hole in a Qantas jumbo during a flight two years ago was a unique event that is extremely unlikely ever to happen again, investigators said yesterday in their final report into the incident.
But the investigators concluded the exact cause of the incident would never be known because the key piece of evidence - the oxygen tank - fell into the South China Sea and was never recovered.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau report into the July 2008 incident is unrelated to the blowout of a Rolls-Royce engine on a Qantas superjumbo earlier this month, but both events are part of a string of safety incidents in recent years that have tested the airline's reputation as one of the world's safest.
The latest incident also involves parts not likely to be recovered, with some of the Airbus A380's engine parts still lost after the blowout over an Indonesian island. However, safety bureau chief commissioner Martin Dolan said he did not expect a similarly inconclusive result for the superjumbo investigation.
"We've got most of the necessary engine when it comes to the A380 and we've got significant components that have given us enough information to establish reasonably clearly what's going on there," Dolan told reporters.
On the Boeing 747 oxygen bottle explosion, investigators had been unable to replicate that rupture in experiments with similar steel?tanks.
"Given the widespread and long-term use of this type of cylinder, it was clear that this occurrence was a unique event," Dolan said. "It is our view that the risk of a similar rupture and consequent aircraft damage remains remote."
Investigators speculated that the tank's flaw lay in the manufacture of the steel with which it was made, and that the fault could have been impossible to detect, Dolan said.
"Importantly, the report makes no findings in relation to Qantas' engineering and maintenance operations," the airline said.
The Boeing 747 was flying across the South China Sea carrying 369 passengers and crew from London to Melbourne, Australia, when the oxygen bottle split in two.
The lower part blew a gaping hole two meters by 1.5 meters in its fuselage, while the top shot through the passenger cabin floor and sheared off an emergency door handle before it bounced off the ceiling and ricocheted back through the floor.
In its report yesterday, the transport bureau said the cylinder design was "inherently robust."
But the investigators concluded the exact cause of the incident would never be known because the key piece of evidence - the oxygen tank - fell into the South China Sea and was never recovered.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau report into the July 2008 incident is unrelated to the blowout of a Rolls-Royce engine on a Qantas superjumbo earlier this month, but both events are part of a string of safety incidents in recent years that have tested the airline's reputation as one of the world's safest.
The latest incident also involves parts not likely to be recovered, with some of the Airbus A380's engine parts still lost after the blowout over an Indonesian island. However, safety bureau chief commissioner Martin Dolan said he did not expect a similarly inconclusive result for the superjumbo investigation.
"We've got most of the necessary engine when it comes to the A380 and we've got significant components that have given us enough information to establish reasonably clearly what's going on there," Dolan told reporters.
On the Boeing 747 oxygen bottle explosion, investigators had been unable to replicate that rupture in experiments with similar steel?tanks.
"Given the widespread and long-term use of this type of cylinder, it was clear that this occurrence was a unique event," Dolan said. "It is our view that the risk of a similar rupture and consequent aircraft damage remains remote."
Investigators speculated that the tank's flaw lay in the manufacture of the steel with which it was made, and that the fault could have been impossible to detect, Dolan said.
"Importantly, the report makes no findings in relation to Qantas' engineering and maintenance operations," the airline said.
The Boeing 747 was flying across the South China Sea carrying 369 passengers and crew from London to Melbourne, Australia, when the oxygen bottle split in two.
The lower part blew a gaping hole two meters by 1.5 meters in its fuselage, while the top shot through the passenger cabin floor and sheared off an emergency door handle before it bounced off the ceiling and ricocheted back through the floor.
In its report yesterday, the transport bureau said the cylinder design was "inherently robust."
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