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Metal Fatigue or Explosion Suspected on Qantas Jet
« on: 2008-07-26 18:34:28 » |
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July 27, 2008
Metal Fatigue or Explosion Suspected on Qantas Jet
By TIM JOHNSTON and MICHELINE MAYNARD
SYDNEY, Australia — Australian and American investigators on Saturday were exploring the possibility that either an explosion in the cargo hold, possibly by oxygen canisters, or metal fatigue caused the fuselage of a Qantas Airlines passenger jet to burst open in flight, forcing an emergency landing.
During their first look inside the plane on Saturday, investigators discovered shards of oxygen bottles throughout the cargo hold and in the floor above, which is below the cabin, said one person with direct knowledge of the investigation who spoke on condition of anonymity. Investigators do not know if the oxygen canister caused the damage, but they theorize that it may have played a role, the person said.
“The dangerous goods manifest is going to be very closely inspected to see if there was anything that might have caused the oxygen bottles to explode,” the person said, adding that metal fatigue was also a possibility.
An explosion caused by oxygen generators was blamed for the 1996 crash of a ValuJet plane in the Florida Everglades that killed all 110 people aboard. The generators, from three other planes, were stored in the cargo hold. ValuJet was grounded for more than two months after the crash, and the airline was fined $1.75 million, then a record.
Metal fatigue was blamed when a gash opened in Aloha Airlines Flight 243 in 1988 in flight over Hawaii, causing a loss of cabin pressure. A chunk of the Boeing 737’s roof and the cockpit door were blown out. One flight attendant was killed when she was swept out of the plane, and 65 passengers and crew members were hurt. The accident prompted the Federal Aviation Administration to inspect some Boeing 737’s for cracks.
In the case of the Qantas jet, a hole the size of a car was found in a cargo area under the business class section of the cabin, officials said. The plane, a Boeing 747-400 operating as Qantas Flight 30 from Hong Kong to Melbourne, Australia, landed safely, and no one was hurt.
Aviation experts said the hole might have appeared when a part of the plane meant to reduce wind resistance pulled away from the fuselage, although they cautioned that it was too soon to draw conclusions. In Washington, a senior counterterrorism official said that there was no indication of terrorism playing a role.
The hole appeared to encompass a part of the plane called a fairing, which is meant to smooth out the surface of the fuselage and reduce drag. Fairings, which are installed on various parts of an aircraft, do not normally suffer metal fatigue, said Robert W. Mann Jr., an industry consultant based in Port Washington, N.Y.
That raised the question of whether the aircraft might have been damaged on the ground or from inside the cargo compartment, possibly when bags were being loaded, Mr. Mann said.
The Daily Telegraph of Australia reported Saturday that a great deal of corrosion had been found in a recent inspection of that hold, but safety experts and airline officials debunked the report on Saturday.
“The particular incident of corrosion that was reported was found during a routine check in February of this year,” Peter Gibson, spokesman for the Civil Aviation Safety Authority of Australia, said by telephone. “The corrosion was very minor and was found in a seat track in economy class, so it is in a completely different part of the aircraft. That corrosion can in no way be connected to the accident.”
Geoff Dixon, chief executive of Qantas, agreed with Mr. Gibson at a news conference on Saturday.
“Our preliminary checks on this indicate that there was no corrosion anywhere near where this hole appeared,” he said. “This was a very, very serious incident. It was one that was handled exceedingly well by those in charge of the aircraft.”
Investigators from the Australian Air Transport Safety Bureau were in place Saturday, Mr. Gibson said, and Boeing and the National Transportation Safety Board of the United States were sending teams to help. Under international treaty, the United States, as the country where the plane was built, will be an official participant in the investigation.
Passengers described hearing a loud bang and seeing debris fly into the cabin. Oxygen masks dropped from the ceiling.
Cellphone video taken by one passenger, Rob Henshaw, that was widely distributed showed passengers sitting calmly and wearing their yellow masks.
“We were just about to have lunch — the stewardesses had already put the food on our tables — when there was a very sharp explosion sound and the plane lurched to the left and the wind and the decompression came on immediately,” Mr. Henshaw said by telephone on Saturday. “There was a bit of an initial feeling of panic, but that was allayed after it appeared there was some control over the plane.”
The plane landed in Manila a little over an hour after it took off. After leaving the plane, he saw the hole for the first time.
“Seeing what we went through,” Mr. Henshaw said, “it was a miracle that we got down in one piece.”
Tim Johnston reported from Sydney, and Micheline Maynard from Detroit. Matthew L. Wald and Eric Schmitt contributed reporting from Washington.
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"There was a bit of an initial feeling of panic....."
A bit?
Walter
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