For the second time in recent memory, an airplane maintained by Qantas has been forced to make an emergency landing after technical problems. When a Qantas Airbus A380 had an engine blow out in mid-flight, it seemed like a mechanical flaw in the engine’s design rather than some failing on Qantas’s part (and Rolls Royce agreed with that estimation, saying a failed component in their Trent 900 engine caused that near-wreck). However, this most recent Qantas failing involved a Boeing 747 headed from Sydney, Australia, to Argentina that was forced down due to technical problems.
The fact it was a Boeing 747, one of the most widely-used and common airplanes in the world suggests that, perhaps, the problems are on Qantas’s end, rather than on the manufacturing end. Or maybe it’s just a string of supremely bad luck on the part of Qantas. Either way, the Boeing landed without any incident; the flight’s 199 passengers and assorted crew were shaken up, but otherwise fine after the return to Sydney.
Qantas had no comment, pending an investigation.
Tags: Boeing 747, Boeing, Qantas, Qantas 747 makes emergency landing, Sydney, Australia, Argentina, emergency landing, airplane technical problems, maintenance, Qantas airplane safety, air travel