Qantas Decompression Accident
This afternoon Qantas have had a very serious accident with one of their Boeing 747 aircraft. The bare facts are all over the mainstream news reports at the moment. A rapid decompression at altitude an hour out from Hong Kong followed by an emergency landing at Manila airport. Photos from Manila show the pressure hull of the aircraft with a 1 metre by 2 metre section missing and clearly blown outwards immediately forward of the right hand side wing root.
The Australian Transportation Safety Board has begun an investigation, as has Qantas themselves but at this early stage it is fair to undertake some informed speculation as to possible causes.
Qantas has had some troubles earlier this year with incorrectly installed or damaged drip shields under the galleys in their 747’s. Most notoriously this led to a complete electrical failure on another of their 747’s over the Pacific and the aircraft being landed, at night, with the pilot’s instruments running on reserve battery power with only minutes remaining.
It is interesting to note that the hole in the fuselage in this accident is almost immediately below a galley and toilet area.
Could a lengthy period of improperly contained moisture below the galley/toilet area have led to corrosion in the hull and finally failure by metal fatigue? Was the area properly tested for corrosion and fatigue in the last heavy maintenance check?
No doubt the ATSB will be looking at this as well as other scenarios. But I’d put 5 bucks on this one.
