Yet another Qantas plane grounded owing to technical glitch

There has been yet another incident of mechanical fault on a Qantas Airways’ plane – this time, on a domestic flight heading from Melbourne to Canberra. The Canberra-bound Boeing 737 jet returned to the terminal and passengers were transferred to another plane, which left Melbourne 90 minutes later.

A spokesman of Qantas Airways said the problem with the Boeing 737 jet, carrying 111 passengers, was in the air conditioning system.

“Rather than delay passengers further, a replacement aircraft was arranged. The flight then departed just after 1 pm,” the Qantas spokesman added.

The aircraft was taxiing down the runway to fly to Canberra when the problem was detected. The crew plane’s decided to turn around when they heard a noise coming from the undercarriage.

The problem with the Canberra-bound Boeing 737 plane was the fifth emergency incident involving Qantas in a little over two weeks.

In yet another incident of glitch, Qantas grounded a jet aircraft, bound for San Francisco, the United States, at Sydney Airport on account of what was described by the company as “technical problems.” The passengers on the flight QF73 were subjected to a 7-hour delay at Sydney Airport.

The company said the San Francisco-bound plane was delayed after a problem with the Boeing 747-400’s horizontal stabiliser position transmitter was noticed.

The two incidents that took place on August 7, 2008, were the latest in a series of setbacks for Australia’s national airline and flag carrier.

Qantas Airways began being plagued by a spate of problems in July 2008 when an explosion tore a hole in the fuselage of a Qantas jet en route from Hong Kong to Melbourne. The affected plane was forced to make an emergency landing at Manila in the Philippines.

A week ago, a Qantas domestic flight was forced to return to Adelaide, Australia, after a wheel-bay door failed to close.

On August 2, 2008, a Qantas Boeing 767 flight turned back to make an emergency landing at Sydney Airport after it was found that the plane’s a hydraulic fluid was  leaking.

On August 4, a Qantas jet was grounded for about 3 hours after a technical fault was discovered in a pre-flight inspection at Sydney Airport.

Geoff Dixon, chief executive of Qantas Airways, had admitted a few days ago that the airline’s reputation had taken a beating by these incidents and that Qantas had to work hard to win back its good name.

The Civil Aviation Safety Authority of Australia is currently investigating Qantas Airways following the incidents of technical malfunctions.