Qantas to inspect oxygen bottles after 747 emergency
SYDNEY (Reuters) - Qantas was ordered on Sunday to checkall oxygen bottles on its fleet of Boeing 747s afterinvestigators said an exploding oxygen bottle might have rippeda hole in a Qantas 747, forcing it to make an emergency landingat Manila.
Australia's Civil Aviation Authority (CASA) said Qantas hadagreed to inspect oxygen bottles on its fleet of 747s. Theairline has about 30 of the Boeing model.
The Qantas aircraft made an emergency landing in Manila onFriday after part of its undercarriage blew off, triggering aloss in cabin pressure during a flight from Hong Kong toMelbourne.
"There are two cylinders located pretty much exactly wherethat hole appeared," CASA spokesman Peter Gibson toldreporters.
"We do know there were two oxygen bottles in that area, wedo know they're a main focus of the investigation, and we thinkit's prudent to put safety first, to get inspections done nowrather than wait any longer," Gibson said.
In Manila, investigators from the Australian TransportSafety Bureau said there were no traces of explosive materialson the aircraft or passengers' baggage.
"At this stage, there was no evidence whatsoever that thisis a security-related event," said Neville Blyth, seniorinvestigator from the safety bureau.
"This is treated as a safety investigation and until suchtime as any evidence comes to light that this is asecurity-related event, the investigation will be conducted bythe ATSB and the Philippines as standard safety event."
Blyth said one of the oxygen cylinders near the fuselage ofthe Boeing 747-400 was missing, but he declined to conclude itwas the cause of the blast.
"I can't speculate as to indeed the probability of thatcylinder having caused the damage. The areas around the damagewill be inspected, obviously, looking for evidence of wherethat cylinder may have gone and for its fragments."
RAPID DESCENT
Passengers reported hearing a loud bang before the aircraftrapidly lost altitude and said the Boeing 747-400 had a holethe size of a mini-van on the right of its undercarriage whenit landed in the Philippine capital.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau said QF30 made anemergency descent from 29,000 feet to 10,000 feet. All 346passengers and 19 crew disembarked safely.
Gibson also said investigators would look into reports thatoxygen masks aboard the plane were in poor shape and somefailed to deploy during the emergency.
Some passengers said their oxygen masks failed to workproperly during the crisis, almost causing some to pass out.
"Ours didn't come down, and my husband just about (passedout) because he didn't have any oxygen for about threeminutes," passenger Beverley Doors told Australian radio onSunday.
Passenger David Saunders said one man in front of himsmashed the ceiling panel to force his mask to come down, andthat children were screaming and flailing.
"Their cheeks and lips were turning blue from lack ofoxygen," he said.
(Additional reporting by Manny Mogato in Manila)