Can you trust Air Asia

[kgwilson]

Various reports have come in about Air ASIA A330 flight D7237 that was forced to turn back to Perth 1 1/2 hours into the flight with what they now vaguely call "Technical difficulties" point to poor communication skills of the Pilot scaring the bejesus out of passengers.

 

Passengers were initially told a blade had sheared off the engine

 

"Please listen to everything," a man said. "Our survival depends on your cooperating. Hopefully everything will turn out for the best."

 

Those first minutes were among the worst, some passengers reported.

 

"I was crying a lot," Sophie Nicolas told the ABC. "A lot of people were crying, trying to call their mums and stuff. But we couldn't really do anything. Just wait and trust the captain."

 

The captain asked everyone to pray, Nicolas told Perth Now.

 

"I'll be saying a prayer, too," she recalled him saying.

 

Passenger Brenton Atkinson, 24, said the whole plane started shaking, far more than standard turbulence.

 

"It was essentially the engine seized up I think, that's what they told us anyway," he said.

 

"It was literally like you were sitting on top of a washing machine. The whole thing was going. We could see the engine out the window which was really shaken on the wing."

 

Of course this could all be poor sensationalist journalism or poor English skills from the captain but it does not inspire confidence in this troubled airline.

 

 

[fly_tornado]

*any budget airline?

 

 

[HeliPilot70]

Prayer? Really? I don't remember that in the POH! What happened to keeping the pax calm and working through the emergency checklist?

 

 

[turboplanner]

When you fly with a foreign airline you fly with foreign values.

 

 

[red750]

The video shown on TV showed the aircraft shaking like an out-of-balance washing machine on spin cycle, banging loudly. One shot of the engine intake showed the fan spinning, although it may have been windmilling and not under power. Wouldn't have done any good for the engine pylon.

 

 

[turboplanner]

The video shown on TV showed the aircraft shaking like an out-of-balance washing machine on spin cycle, banging loudly. One shot of the engine intake showed the fan spinning, although it may have been windmilling and not under power. Wouldn't have done any good for the engine pylon.

Is the fan totally free wheeling or can it be braked to zero?

 

 

[fly_tornado]

[No message]

[alf jessup]

I will not fly on any budget Asian or Middle Eastern airline ever, flew once on Air India on a dirty rattling 737 from Singapore once to Mumbai (companies fault) and never again

 

If QF32 was flown by some of these airlines I'm betting it would have been the first loss of a A380 as the culture is totally different, they cannot question the captain, they are afraid to override his authority, lot of them are not stick and rudder pilots just automated trained, quite a few accidents over the years where the pilots were confused with what the plane was saying (Aerolingus out of Peru, Air France off the African coast just to name a couple)

 

I think Western trained pilots have a far better culture and understanding when it comes to problems)

 

 

[bexrbetter]

I will never fly Air Asia again after last years efforts re; gutless stewards who refuse to do anything about ignorant passengers.

 

Besides the seating is just too tight for most Westeners.

 

 

[red750]

Off on a slight tangent, but did anyone see "Murder in the Sky", the story of the Germanwings plane intentionally crashed into the mountain by the depressed pilot on Channel 7 last night? Program done by the Air Crash Investigation mob.

 

 

[Downunder]

Is the fan totally free wheeling or can it be braked to zero?

Can't be braked I believe. I was on a QF Bae 146 that " lost" an engine.

 

Rattled like a b!tch the whole way back.

 

Pilot explained that there was nothing to stop it free wheeling.....

 

 

[facthunter]

There's no braking on a jet engine and it will freewheel unless it's too damaged . The bigger ones at about 1300 rpm I think for the fan stage that has the most mass . Enough to shake it considerably in flight if bits have come off it or even if it iced up I reckon. Jet engine failures are pretty rare. Most airline pilots go a lifetime and never have one. Nev

 

 

[Bennyboy320]

There's a long list, this mob is at the top of my no fly list.

 

 

[Methusala]

Life is unpredictable. QF 32 is not the only "technical problem" faced by Qantas. I recall numerous ones attributed to Jetstar. The reporting of this engine failure was, I think, a little over the top. Commercial flying is the safest form of mass transport. An airliner the other day, lost a fan blade which took out the side of the engine nacelle. Don't kid yourself, you can spend a life time playing it safe and get hit by a car.

 

 

[poteroo]

I think it was just an unfortunate choice of words. We need to remember that English is not the 1st language of most Asian pilots. They learn it well enough to get by in terms of ICAO and 1st world regulatory requirements - but when the proverbial hits-the-fan, their English fails them. I've heard some rather disjointed and garbled transmissions from 'genuine' Aussie pilots after they've had a real emergency. Cut them some slack.

 

 

[planedriver]

I will not fly on any budget Asian or Middle Eastern airline ever, flew once on Air India on a dirty rattling 737 from Singapore once to Mumbai (companies fault) and never againIf QF32 was flown by some of these airlines I'm betting it would have been the first loss of a A380 as the culture is totally different, they cannot question the captain, they are afraid to override his authority, lot of them are not stick and rudder pilots just automated trained, quite a few accidents over the years where the pilots were confused with what the plane was saying (Aerolingus out of Peru, Air France off the African coast just to name a couple)

I think Western trained pilots have a far better culture and understanding when it comes to problems)

Geez! Alf,

 

I'm flying to London in a few weeks with Qatar. Mate can you find a few comforting words for me?

 

Tea-towels, mats, Will update,or anything that may help me?

 

Rgds planey

 

 

[shafs64]

is lion air flying into Australia

 

 

[fly_tornado]

aviate, navigate, communicate

 

 

[bexrbetter]

Meh, as you read this there's 5000 airliners in the sky flying at any one time, they're doing pretty well, even the crappy ones.

 

 

[alf jessup]

Geez! Alf,I'm flying to London in a few weeks with Qatar. Mate can you find a few comforting words for me?

Tea-towels, mats, Will update,or anything that may help me?

 

Rgds planey

Budget Planey Budget I said

Don't class Qatar, Emirates or Etihad budget

 

 

[planedriver]

Thanks, feel better now Alf. $1287 return to London attracted me.

 

 

[Birdseye]

Thanks, feel better now Alf. $1287 return to London attracted me.

You're OK; unless there is an escalation of the current Gulf states issues.

 

 

[facthunter]

It's a bit funny buying a trip on price and then being concerned about safety. When oil prices were high the Gulf airlines had plenty of money to spend on safety. When the ledger goes red the accountants everywhere behave the same way. Cut corners. Spend less on maintenance and work the pilots harder and/or get them cheaper. (Spend less on training) carry less fuel etc. Still just as safe? Not very likely. Nev

 

 

[M61A1]

AirAsia now instructing passengers to say a prayer before boarding flights

[planedriver]

Air Lingus the Irish airline, used to have a priest bless the flight before take-off.

 

However, that's going back a good few years.