Qantas 747 door handle could have been pushed to open in mid-air
An AAP report says that a piece of an exploding oxygen tank is believed to have pushed the handle of an emergency door into the opening position, after smashing through the floor on a Qantas flight from Hong Kong.
Last Friday, a Qantas international jet was forced to make an emergency landing at Manila after a mid-air explosion tore a hole in the plane’s fuselage.
Passengers were not in danger of the doors opening because they are designed so they cannot be opened mid-flight, The Australian reported on Wednesday.
But after examining photographs, industry observers were surprised the door was pushed into the opening position.
“It’s an incredibly rare event for the oxygen tank to explode and for it to hit the door handle and rotate it open is just eye-watering,” a source told The Australian.
The aircraft’s controls were not affected but some computer functions and electrics were disrupted, including three of the plane’s supposedly independent landing systems.
Sources said the emergency descent from 29,000 feet to 10,000 feet took about four minutes.
A report by The Mole from AAP
John Alwyn-Jones
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