Men Who Killed Qantas - Matthew Benns [105]
Also hovering in the background was the ever-present spectre of the ‘asbestos of the air’ – toxic fumes. This was a problem for the whole airline industry, not just Qantas. In Australia, former East-West Airlines flight attendant Joanne Turner had won her legal fight to show that exposure to fumes had damaged her health. Class actions were being prepared and a specialist panel was researching the issue and due to report back to the government later in 2011. Figures filed to the ATSB showed there had been 684 fumes, smoke or fire incidents on all planes in Australia in the decade up to 2009. It was a phenomenon on the increase. The worry for Qantas was the Boeing 767. Only 24 767s operated in Australia – most by Qantas – yet the aircraft was responsible for more than a quarter of all fumes exposures reported to the ATSB between 2001 and 2006. By comparison, the Boeing 747, with 36 aircraft on the Australian Register, accounted for just over four per cent of fumes exposures. The exposure rate to fumes on the 767 was far higher than reported on the now notorious BAE 146, on which Joanne Turner had inhaled the crippling gases. The toxic fumes story still has a long way to go.
Meanwhile, other ghosts from the past came to kick the airline while it was down. The ATSB released their report on the oxygen bottle that exploded in mid-air, blasting a hole in the side of flight QF30 55 minutes after take-off from Hong Kong in July 2008. ATSB Chief Commissioner Mr Martin Dolan exonerated the airline from any blame. ‘Given the widespread and long-term use of this type of cylinder, it was clear that this occurrence was a unique event. In light of the investigation’s findings, it is our view that the risk of a similar rupture and consequent aircraft damage remains extremely remote,’ he said.17 The report also identified a number of minor safety issues, including the fact that Qantas had not maintained independent accreditation of its tank workshop. The airline was swift to address this minor problem. As with the A380 incident, the airline was the victim of external factors, but at this particular moment, the PR boffins would probably have preferred not to be reminded that a Qantas jet had had a hole blown in its side.
Three weeks later came the report into QF2, which lost power when overflowing water from two galleys and toilets dripped through the floor and short-circuited three of the Boeing 747’s four power generators. An ice plug had formed in a drainage hole when a heater broke. Communication, navigation, monitoring and flight-guidance systems were all affected. The aircraft had switched to back-up battery power, but the crew had no way of knowing when that had happened. The back-up batteries had a minimum of 30 minutes of life. Investigations later revealed that the batteries had kicked in when the aircraft was on approach to Bangkok and just 15 minutes from landing. ‘If the aircraft had conducted a missed approach, or had been at a different point in the flight when use of battery power was necessary, the amount of battery power available could have been critical to the safe operation of the aircraft,’ said the report.18 The investigators found that by the time the jet had taxied to the passenger terminal, the aircraft had been on back-up battery power for 21 minutes. There were literally minutes remaining, and when the engines were shut down the cabin lighting cut out and the doors could not be opened. The US Federal Aviation Administration, Boeing and Qantas all took steps to prevent it happening again, including reinforcing drip shields above electrical equipment. The problem was corrected on a number of jets. Qantas planes cover vast distances and are not always 30 minutes from a runway. Once again, the airline had been lucky.
Nonetheless, Alan Joyce was not feeling very lucky. Qantas needed to make back some of the money the airline had lost with the grounding of the A380s. The share price was down and the airline’s market share had slumped. Qantas turned to tried-and-tested