Safety probe uncovers Qantas 747 problems
CANBERRA – Qantas has revealed further details of the problem with one of its Boeing 747-400s approaching Bangkok last month when three of four electrical systems were lost after a leak occurred in the forward galley.
The Australian newspaper reported that crew attempted to use blankets to mop up leaking water in the forward galley.
Crew told the Australian Transport Safety Bureau investigators that they had tried to mop up the “smelly” leak using four to five blankets.
Investigators had initially believed the plane had lost all power and landed on emergency batteries after water from a blocked drain spilled on to electrical equipment.
However, they said in a preliminary report that the electrical problem on the flight from London on January 7 was not as serious as first thought because one of the airline’s four electrical systems appeared to be operating normally.
The loss of the other three prompted the auto throttle and autopilot to disconnect and the first officer’s flight displays to shut down.
The power loss also left the captain’s primary flight display, his navigation display and some other instruments operating in a degraded mode.
The 747, with 346 passengers on board, landed safely but the incident prompted US manufacturer Boeing to alert other 747-400 operators four days later to a potential problem with cracked drip shields in the galley.
Qantas subsequently found and fixed similar problems in its 747-400 fleet.
Ian Jarrett
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