Monday is certainly not a quiet news day for Australian enterprises. The weekend papers published images of luggage slipping out of a 3 meter hole in the fuselage of a Qantas Boeing 747.
Qantas is envied the world over for its exemplary safety record, this is especially commendable given airlines are one of the world’s safest industries.
To see such a graphic image from such a high-performance enterprise helps us all remember that there is always room to improve our process and practices; and that this commitment to continuous improvement is directly linked to the value of our corporate brand and customer confidence in the product that is delivered.
It was reported in today’s newspapers, that the initial focus of the safety investigation is oxygen cylinders that are usually stored between the luggage compartment and the fuselage. These cylinders provide back-up oxygen for the aircraft. Mr. Neville Blyth, an investigator from the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, advised that one of the cylinders which provides back up oxygen was missing.
The Age Newspaper also reported that “some months ago” the US Federal Aviation Administration ordered airlines that come under their jurisdiction to examine their emergency oxygen cylinders because many of them had not been properly heat treated and needed to be replaced. The Age article documented the reasoning for the directive to include “… which would cause the oxygen cylinder to come loose and leak oxygen”.
The Brisbane Times has posted a video news report from Reuters that shows images of the inside of the aircraft and the hole in the fuselage; here is the link:
http://media.brisbanetimes.com.au/?rid=39943
There are reports of passenger distress as the aircraft rapidly descended from 29,000 feet to 10,000 feet, with all due respect being accorded to the good work done by the crew in getting all 346 passengers and 19 crew safety to Manila Airport.
A preliminary report is due to be released by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau in two to three months; as information is released we will be building a REASON® incident model that will be available for free download.
If you would like to be sent an email when that incident model becomes available (or participate in online discussion to finalise the model) please let us know at rca@reason4rca.com
REFERENCES:
http://media.brisbanetimes.com.au/?rid=39943 VIDEO REPORT
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/news/national/qantas-blast-airlines-were-warned/2008/07/28/1217097102406.html
http://www.theage.com.au/action/printArticle?id=167718
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2008/07/28/1217097102556.html
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