[Anonymous]

[JohnPhelanAustralia]

Very interesting piece that was on Australian TV tonight. Great footage. Captain did a fantastic job. Only negative is the same captain makes a very unfortunate comment right at the end of the piece.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Riyh-dCmvlI

[pomerol]

JohnPhelanAustralia

Thank you excellent piece, yes very unfortunate analogy at the end.

[austline]

What a great story, I watched it on 60 minutes last night, what a humble guy. He and the rest of the tech crew did such a miraculous job, the accolades are well due. I just wish Rolls Royce would come out at show some sort of empathy as this could have been a major disaster for them as well.

[robsmith100]

Cheers for sharing this John! quite an eye opener.

[hemispheres]

‘Outstanding’ but then he is an Aussie & a Qantas pilot.

What was so bad about the analogy at the end ? What am I missing or misunderstanding ?

[LindsayW]

I agree John. On hindsight, Richard would pobably like to change what he said in the last 30 seconds. But to Channel 9, it was a golden moment on which to end the story (sensationalism).

I would have thought a better analogy was the Concorde (as it as a very similar catastropic incident), but similarly, it went down like the Titanic with massive loss of life.

Austline, I wonder whether Airbus and RR were invted to comment on the program, but declined – after all, it might harm their defence in the Australian court case; thus better to say nothing.

For those that want to watch the first hand footage, look at these YouTube clips:
url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyEJCg9etBg&feature=fvwkrel
url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJN8Paj8I4g&feature=related

[JohnPhelanAustralia]

hemispheres – the comment I’m referring to is the one where the captain says “the A380 is indestructible”. Eventually, when there is an incident in which an A380 is lost (as will almost certainly happen, at some point, sadly), I can guarantee you that TV stations will replay that bit. Even the reporter seemed amazed that he would say that, noting “that’s what they said about the Titanic!”

[Binman62]

A ridiculous and stupid comment rather than unfortunate one in my book.

This was clearly a QF marketing ploy rather than a piece of investigative quality journalism. From the outset with the reporter casually strolling along the edge of the runway as the aircraft takes off (without any safety wear I might add) it was clear that this was yet another attempt by QF to reinforce its position in the Aussie home land.

It is beyond belief that everything he said had not been carefully scripted and rehearsed before hand and you have to wonder if his “off script” remark was really off script!

[VintageKrug]

It certainly looked off script to me.

The pilot did seem a little too self-assured for my liking, but he is obviously one of their most experienced A380 pilots and I never had any concerns about Qantas operating this aircraft, and indeed will be taking QF32 very shortly.

[pomerol]

JohnPhelanAustralia

Came across this article, which relates to another in flight engine problem, concerning a Qantas A380 flight LHR-SIN.

http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2011/02/18/353362/atsb-investigates-qantas-a380-partial-power-loss.html

This is a little worrying.

[JohnPhelanAustralia]

Thanks Pomerol. I have had QF A380 flights cancelled and others severly delayed due to engine problems that could not be fixed because they couldn’t figure out what was wrong!

My personal view is that there are intrinsic problems with the RR Trent 900 engines (especially when operated at max thrust) and so I refuse to fly on aircraft powered by them. So it’s the reliable 747 for me!

[pomerol]

JPA

Probably very wise, this problem is clearly related, and until it is completely resolved, thier can be little confidence.

[Author]

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