Aircraft incidents and accidents
It is often claimed, most notably in the 1988 movie Rain Man, that Qantas has never had an aircraft crash.[51] While it is true that the company has neither lost a jet airliner nor had any jet fatalities, it had eight fatal accidents and an aircraft shot down between 1927 and 1945, with the loss of 63 people. Half of these accidents and the shoot-down occurred during World War II, when the Qantas aircraft were operating on behalf of Allied military forces. Post-war, it lost another two aircraft with the loss of 17 lives. To this date, the last fatal accident suffered by Qantas was in 1951.
Since the end of World War II, the following accidents and incidents have occurred:
On 7 April 1949, Avro Lancastrian VH-EAS swung on landing at Dubbo during a training flight, causing the gear to collapse. The aircraft was destroyed by fire, but the crew evacuated safely.[52]
On 16 July 1951, de Havilland Australia DHA-3 Drover VH-EBQ crashed off the coast of New Guinea (in the Huon Gulf near the mouth of the Markham River) after the centre engine's propeller failed. The pilot and the six passengers on board were killed. To date, this was the last fatal accident suffered by Qantas. [53]
On 24 August 1960, Super Constellation VH-EAC crashed on take-off at Mauritius en route to the Cocos Islands. The take-off was aborted following an engine failure, the aircraft ran off the runway, and was destroyed by fire. There were no fatalities.[54]
On 23 September 1999, Qantas Flight 1, a Boeing 747–400 VH-OJH, overran the runway while landing at Bangkok, Thailand, during a heavy thunderstorm. The aircraft ended up on a golf course, but without fatalities. The Australian Transport Safety Bureau criticised numerous inadequacies in Qantas' operational and training processes.[55]
On 25 July 2008, Qantas Flight 30, a Boeing 747–400 VH-OJK, on the leg from Hong Kong to Melbourne, suffered a rapid decompression[56] and made an emergency landing in Manila after an explosion. There were no injuries. The ATSB officially stated that the incident was caused by the failure of an oxygen tank.[57][58][59]
Wikinews has related news: Hole in fuselage causes Qantas flight to make emergency landing
On 7 October 2008, Qantas Flight 72, an Airbus A330-300 VH-QPA "Kununurra" travelling from Singapore to Perth, suffered a rapid loss of altitude in two sudden uncommanded pitch down manoeuvres causing serious injuries while 80 nautical miles (150 km) from Learmonth, Australia. The aircraft safely landed in Learmonth, with 14 people requiring transportation by air ambulance to Perth. Another 30 people also required hospital treatment, while an additional 30 people had injuries not requiring hospital treatment.[60] Initial investigations identified an inertial reference system fault in the Number-1 Air Data Inertial Reference Unit as the likely origin of the event. On receiving false indication of a very high angle of attack, the flight control systems commanded a pitch down movement, reaching a maximum of 8.5 degrees pitch down.[61]
On 30 August 2010, Qantas Flight 74, a Boeing 747-400 with 213 passengers and 18 crew, left San Francisco International Airport for Sydney. It suffered an engine turbine failure, with passengers witnessed sparks and flames streamed from the number-four engine exhaust just after 15 minutes from departing. ATSB's preliminary report revealed that as the engine vibrated, disintegrating parts were flung outwards, tore a large hole on the far side of the engine cover and peppered the near side with holes. The debris also hit the underside of the wing and puncturing the wing flaps. The plane turned around, dumped excess fuel and landed safely in San Francisco with no injuries.[62][63]
On 4 November 2010 Qantas Flight 32, an Airbus A380 "Nancy-Bird Walton" VH-OQA suffered a serious failure of its left inboard engine. The flight landed safely, and all 433 passengers and 26 crew on board are safe. Cowling parts of the failed engine fell over Batam island.[64][16] This incident resulted in the grounding of Qantas’ entire A380 fleet.
On 5 November 2010 Qantas flight QF6 (Boeing 747-400) from Singapore suffered engine problems shorty after take off, and safely returned to Singapore Airport. There were no injuries. [65] Despite the similarities raising safety concerns, there was no apparent connection between the incident and QF32 the day before. [66]
Extortion attempts
On 26 May 1971, Qantas received a call from a "Mr. Brown" claiming that there was a bomb planted on a Hong Kong-bound jet and demanding $500,000 in unmarked $20 bills. He was treated seriously when he directed police to an airport locker where a functional bomb was found. Arrangements were made to pick up the money in front of the head office of the airline in the heart of the Sydney business district. Qantas paid the money and it was collected, after which Mr. Brown called again, advising the 'bomb on the plane' story was a hoax. The initial pursuit of the perpetrator was bungled by the New South Wales Police Force who, despite having been advised of the matter from the time of the first call, failed to establish adequate surveillance of the pick-up of the money. Directed not to use their radios (for fear of being "overheard"), the police were unable to communicate adequately.[67] Tipped off by a still-unidentified informer, the police arrested an Englishman, Peter Macari,[68] finding more than $138,000 hidden in an Annandale property. Convicted and sentenced to 15 years in prison, Macari served nine years before being deported to Britain. Over $224,000 has still not been found. The 1985 telemovie Call Me Mr. Brown, directed by Scott Hicks and produced by Terry Jennings, relates to this incident.
On 4 July 1997, a copycat extortion attempt was thwarted by police and Qantas security staff.[69]
Sex discrimination controversy
In November 2005, it was revealed that Qantas has a policy of not seating adult male passengers next to unaccompanied children. This led to accusations of discrimination. The policy came to light following an incident in 2004 when Mark Wolsay, who was seated next to a young boy on a Qantas flight in New Zealand, was asked to change seats with a female passenger. A steward informed him that "it was the airline's policy that only women were allowed to sit next to unaccompanied children".[70]
Cameron Murphy of the NSW Council for Civil Liberties president criticised the policy and stated that "there was no basis for the ban". He said it was wrong to assume that all adult males posed a danger to children .[71] The policy has also been criticised for failing to take female abusers into consideration.[72]
Price fixing
Qantas has pleaded guilty to participating in a cartel that fixed the price of air cargo. Qantas Airways Ltd. was fined $155,000 CAD after it admitted that its freight division fixed surcharges on cargo exported on certain routes from Canada between May 2002 and February 2006.[73]