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UAL 747 hits Qantas 767 at Melbourne

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typhoonpilot

Daddy
Joined
Feb 24, 2002
Posts
1,381
Quote:
Jumbo clips taxiing Qantas jet
Carmel Egan and Jenny McAsey
February 03, 2006

A SHUDDERING jolt ran through a Qantas jet as it was hit from behind by a United Airlines 747-400 on the tarmac at Melbourne airport yesterday.

The left wing of the Los Angeles-bound jumbo sheered off the tip of the right tail winglet on the Qantas Boeing 767.

The accident occurred as both planes taxied towards the runway in preparation for take-off just after 1pm. None of the 155 passengers and 11 crew on the Qantas jet and 99 passengers and 14 crew on the United Airlines flight was injured.

But for athlete Anna Worland, the accident almost resulted in her missing the Commonwealth Games selection trials in Sydney.

When Worland eventually made it to Sydney for her 1500m heat, after being delayed several hours, losing her luggage containing running gear and being stuck in Sydney traffic, she was relieved to hear the heats had been cancelled and that she would go straight into tonight's semi-finals.

The captain of QF434 described the incident as a clip from behind by another aircraft.

"We were going out as normal and all of a sudden there was this giant shudder through the whole plane," said Peter Kirk, who was on the domestic flight. "You can see a little damage on the leading edge of the United plane's wing."

Rowan Frew, who was going to Sydney for a holiday, was sitting in the middle of the Qantas jet.

"There was a loud shuddering noise and a united gasp from the passengers," she said. "Nobody was terribly alarmed."

United said in a statement that its flight 840 from Melbourne to Los Angeles via Sydney "reported a wingtip touch with a Qantas aircraft as it taxied".

According to the Civil Aviation Safety Authority, responsibility for aircraft movements on the ground is shared by airline pilots and air traffic control.

The CASA manual for air traffic standards says: "The pilot in command is primarily responsible for ensuring separation from another aircraft."

However, Air Traffic Control "must control runway operations with landing and take-off clearances and facilitate a high movement rate by providing traffic information and/or sequencing instructions."

Australian Transport Safety Bureau investigators flew from Canberra yesterday afternoon to begin a report into the incident
Right tail winglet = Horizontal stabilizer


Typhoonpilot
 
and 99 passengers and 14 crew on the United Airlines flight

Did United even break even on that flight? Even before buying a new winglet, I doubt it!
 
I think the flight goes MEL-SYD-LAX. The majority of the pax would come from SYD.

I'm sure this is a costly accident. Just the airplane down time for repair will cost millions in lost revenue.


TP
 
I think it also has a refueling stop in Auckland from memory.

Who knows what happened but Qantas attitudes might have had something to do with it (IE i'm not going to make any avoidance because i have right of way) . I've flown alot of airlines and the 2 closest calls i've had were with Qantas an both times when I asked the captain really politely what had happened he basically told me to get stuffed. So i'm not at all fond of Qantas and i'm even an aussie.

LOL ok Now that its time for me to hit the sack ill turn my anti Qantas rant off :)

Not meant to be taken seriously anyway i'm just glad nobody got hurt and hopefully allt he pilots keep their certificates :)
 
aussiefly said:
I think it also has a refueling stop in Auckland from memory.

Who knows what happened but Qantas attitudes might have had something to do with it (IE i'm not going to make any avoidance because i have right of way) . I've flown alot of airlines and the 2 closest calls i've had were with Qantas an both times when I asked the captain really politely what had happened he basically told me to get stuffed. So i'm not at all fond of Qantas and i'm even an aussie.

LOL ok Now that its time for me to hit the sack ill turn my anti Qantas rant off :)

Not meant to be taken seriously anyway i'm just glad nobody got hurt and hopefully allt he pilots keep their certificates :)


UAL stopped serving Auckland a few years ago.

The Qantas 767 was waiting for takeoff at an intersection of runway 16. The UAL 747 was taxiing full length. Not sure of the exact sequence but it looks like the offending party is UAL.

TP
 
Hey thanks for that update Typhoon. It sucks when the offending party might not be the airline you hate lol :)

Just out of interest how close does it get from the cockpit perspective when taxiing a huge jet like the 47 around ?? I wonder somtimes that trying to get those beasts to turn around some of the tight taxiways must take some practice.
 
aussiefly said:
Just out of interest how close does it get from the cockpit perspective when taxiing a huge jet like the 47 around ?? I wonder somtimes that trying to get those beasts to turn around some of the tight taxiways must take some practice.

It is very difficult to judge where the wing tip is tracking because you can't look back and see it. I have a guide that I use in the 777, but I'm not sure what the 747 drivers use. Most international airports are set up for the larger wingspans and turn radii of widebodys.

The 777-300 main wheels are 114 feet behind the pilot so we have to be very careful when making large radius turns or the mains will track well inside of the turn radius ( and quite possibly off the pavement ). We also sit 12 feet in front of the nosewheel so to make a 90 degree turn on a tight taxiway requires putting your body off the edge of the taxiway ( that way the nosewheel is right near the outside edge ). The mains will still track very close to the inside edge of the pavement. Fortunately Boeing put cameras on the 777-300 so that we can view the mains and noseweheel from a monitor in the flight deck.

Some of the oldtimers used to say that the hardest thing about flying a widebody like the 747 was taxiing it.


Typhoonpilot
 
typhoonpilot said:
I think the flight goes MEL-SYD-LAX. The majority of the pax would come from SYD.
Isn't that cabotage?
 

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