with high fuel prices and heavy competition from the smaller carriers, looks like the bigger airlines like qantas probably saves money by cutting down on maintenance and therefore costs, which will one day be disaster...
Qantas probe 'finds more faults' Friday Jan 11 12:00 AEDT By ninemsn staff
A cracking problem that caused a near-catastrophic power failure in a Qantas jumbo jet has reportedly been found in another six of the airline's 747s.
Water leaked through a cracked drip tray under the aircraft's first-class galley on Monday, causing the 747-400 to lose its main electrical power 15 minutes from landing in Bangkok, The Australian reported.
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The water, which had leaked from a blocked drain, shorted one of the plane's generator control units and would have been collected in the tray had it not been faulty.
At the time, aviation sources told the newspaper the incident was highly unusual and could have spelled disaster for flight QF2 which was carrying 344 passengers from London to the Thai capital.
"If this had happened over the ocean in the middle of the night, it would probably have crashed," an experienced 747 pilot said.
Subsequent investigations by Qantas found cracks in the drip trays of six other jets, according to The Australian.
"There were some instances of cracks," a Qantas spokeswoman said last night.
"They were immediately repaired and the aircraft have been cleared."
The airline would not confirm six 747s were found to have faulty drip trays and did not give more details.
Peter Gibson from the Civil Aviation Safety Authority this morning told the ABC investigations were continuing into whether the crack was a design fault or a maintenance issue.
"Well clearly there was a failure in the drip tray as well which allowed the water to get through," he said.
"If that hadn't have happened obviously the water wouldn't have entered into the electrical component and obviously Qantas and indeed the Civil Aviation Authority have been talking to the manufacturer of Boeing about this issue from day one."
