Qantas 747 Incident

Status: Preliminary - official
Date: 25 JUL 2008
Time: ca 11:00
Type: Boeing 747-438
Operator: Qantas
Registration: VH-OJK
C/n / msn: 25067/857
First flight: 1991-05-21
Engines: 4 Rolls Royce RB211-524G2
Crew: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 19
Passengers: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 346
Total: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 365
Airplane damage: Substantial
Location: near Manila (Philippines)
Phase: En route (ENR)
Nature: International Scheduled Passenger
Departure airport: Hong Kong-Chek Lap Kok International Airport (HKG/VHHH), Hong Kong
Destination airport: Melbourne-Tullamarine Airport, VIC (MEL/YMML), Australia
Flightnumber: 30
Narrative:
The aircraft, a Boeing 747-400 was operating a scheduled passenger service from Hong Kong to Melbourne Australia. At approximately 29,000 feet, the crew were forced to conduct an emergency descent after a section of the fuselage separated and resulted in a rapid decompression of the cabin. The crew descended the aircraft to 10,000 feet in accordance with established procedures and diverted the aircraft to Manila where a safe landing was carried out.

The aircraft taxied to the terminal unassisted, where the passengers and crew disembarked.
There were no reported injuries.

The ongoing investigation has confirmed that there is one unaccounted for oxygen cylinder from the bank of cylinders that are located in the area of the breech. There are 13 oxygen cylinders in the bank that are responsible for supplying oxygen to the passenger masks and cabin crew.

Also recovered are a number of parts of components including part of a valve in the vicinity of the breech. However, it is yet to be determined whether these components are part of the aircraft system.

A number of passengers have reported that some of the oxygen masks appeared not to function correctly when they deployed from the overhead modules. The ATSB intends to examine the oxygen system including the oxygen masks.

(aviation-safety.net)

Fonte: Flight Safety Information 29/07/2008.