Fed: Qantas bogged down by more problems

AAP General News (Australia)
12-08-2008
Fed: Qantas bogged down by more problems

By Angela Harper

BRISBANE, Dec 8 AAP - A Qantas jet that got bogged at Sydney airport is the latest
in a series of mishaps to dog the Australian airline.

Maintenance workers took a shortcut while towing an aircraft along a taxiway on Friday,
which landed it in trouble, according to a number of witnesses' accounts on the professional
pilot rumour network website www.pprune.org

The Airbus A330, laden with fuel but not carrying passengers, was due to fly to Tokyo,
but because of the mishap the flight was cancelled.

Qantas confirmed the incident saying a towbar holding the aircraft to the truck had
failed and two of the jet's wheels went onto the grass beside the taxiway.

"Obviously it is a fairly unusual incident," a Qantas spokesman told AAP.

"It was all resolved relatively quickly - there were no passengers on it, there was
no inconvenience to any passengers."

After being pulled out the plane returned to operations within 12 hours, he said.

It is understood a safety advisory note, called a NOTAM (notice to airmen) - which
alerts pilots to changes at airports and in airspace - was issued about some changes to
the taxiway.

Emergency vehicles were seen surrounding the jet.

One observer told the pprune website: "(It) looked hilarious, all the orange safety
car lights going off around it."

It has been a tough few months for the flying kangaroo, including a mid-air incident
over Western Australia, an exploding oxygen tank blowing a hole in the fuselage on an
international flight, security screening breaches and a number of maintenance incidents.

AAP ahe/pjo/jfm/bwl

KEYWORD: QANTAS

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