Qantas has said that the highly unusual incident involving loss of
electrical power on a B747-400 in Bangkok this week was still under close investigation.Qantas Executive General Manager John Borghetti said the airline was working with Boeing and the
ATSB to determine the root cause of the incident, but that it was too early to provide detailed
analysis.
“As always, safety is our prime concern. We will be monitoring every development closely and the
ATSB’s findings will be made public once its investigation is complete,” Mr Borghetti said.
He said that speculation by a wide range of people, including individual engineers, pilots,
commentators and union officials, was inevitable but unhelpful.
“Regardless of some of the more colourful claims being made about Qantas’ engineering standards,
the truth is that Qantas has one of the world’s leading engineering operations. It spends well above
the industry average on engineering and maintenance each year, and in addition, has invested a
further $300 million in engineering infrastructure and training over the past few years,” he said.
“Our commitment to safety has not changed and never will. We stand by our 87-year reputation for
operational excellence and will never compromise our high standards.”
Mr Borghetti said the only facts about QF2 that could be confirmed to date were:
- the drip shield located above the electrical equipment bay was cracked; - water entered the electrical equipment bay, which caused the malfunction of several components;
and
- the aircraft lost main electrical power and went automatically to standby power.
Mr Borghetti said Qantas had checked the systems and equipment on all 30 of its B747-400 aircraft
and the entire fleet had been cleared to fly.
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