Qantas 747-400 In Emergency Landing
Emergencies of all types in the air attract major headlines and on the day marking the eighth anniversary of the Concorde crash at Gonesse, France, a Qantas Airways Boeing 747-400 en-route from Hong Kong to Melbourne (QF30) diverted to Manila Ninoy Aquino International Airport after a large portion of the fuselage near the wing root/body fairing “popped” off while oxygen masks deployed in the cabin as the airplane lost pressure.
Image courtesy of the BBC/AP
Image courtesy of CNN/Manila Airport
The story will no doubt be unfolding in the coming days, however, the images are pretty dramatic and it’s fortunate that a potentially bigger catastophe has been avoided.
Image courtesy of ninemsn
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) has classified the incident as serious and investigations have already begun into finding the cause.
Excerpt from the BBC:
Passenger Olivia Lucas told the BBC said everyone was “pretty scared for a few moments”.
“Then everyone focused on getting their oxygen masks on,” she said. “Everyone was calm and quiet and there was notable relief when we landed. Everyone applauded the pilot.”
Image courtesy of SMH
“We are very lucky we landed safely and no-one was hurt.”
The airplane involved is VH-OJK, MSN 25067. The Sydney Morning Herald has some more dramatic images here.
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3 comments July 25th, 2008
