A MASSIVE jumbo jet and a tiny trainer aircraft were both in trouble in Sydney yesterday - but both emerged safely. Qantas experienced another technical scare when one of its 747s aborted a takeoff from Sydney Airport after the pilots detected an electrical malfunction in the plane's hydraulic units.
Meanwhile, a flying instructor made a miraculous crash-landing after his student plunged the aircraft into a dive.
The Qantas Boeing 747 airliner, bound for Los Angeles, was taken out of action and its 300 passengers had to disembarked before being re-booked to fly on another aircraft last night.
It is the latest in a string of problems for the national carrier, which has been struggling to deal with limited use of its A380 superjumbos after last month's near-catastrophic explosion of a Rolls-Royce engine on one of the aircraft near Singapore.
Qantas has been forced to use only 747s on the Los Angeles route for weeks because the oil leak danger in the A380 engines is thought to be a potential problem only on long-haul flights.
In Sydney's outer southwest yesterday morning, householders were amazed to see a training aircraft plummet from the sky, but then pull up to crash-land in a backyard.
The twin-engined plane belly-flopped into the rear of a property at Kirkham, near Camden, about 8.30am (AEDT).
A student pilot practising stall manoeuvres lost control, sending the plane plunging towards the ground.
Resident Julie Watson said she heard the plane before it landed in her backyard. "The plane stopped, then they tried to restart it, then it just came down. The initial bang was in my backyard, then it slid 20 metres into next door."
Both men on board walked away from the crash.
To add to Qantas's troubles, its flights out of Britain were among those cancelled or delayed by Heathrow's failure to cope with snow and cold.
Qantas said its backlogged flights to and from London should be cleared in 24 hours.
Heathrow was "absolutely" aiming to get everyone away in time for Christmas, an airport spokeswoman said, adding that 30,000 tonnes of snow had been shovelled off the airport's apron.
Colin Matthews, head of Heathrow operator BAA, said he would not take his bonus for the year after unions said it would be an "absolute slap in the face" to passengers stranded for days.
-------------------------------
Read more Aviation News http://www.theaustralian.com.au/
View Model Aircraft
No comments:
Post a Comment