Qantas - not my airline

There was a time when every Australian was immensely proud of our national flag carrier Qantas.

It was at the forefront of airline innovations throughout the last 75 years with the early adoption and introduction of leading-edge aircraft of their time such as the Super-Constellation, the all-jet 707 and then in the 1960's the massive 747 jumbo.

But most of all, it was the airlines reputation as the safest carrier in the WORLD, that made us proud. For a nation who new that our country of only 20 million people would never have the economic, political or military bulk to play anything other than supporting roles, being the best to so many travellers throughout the world was a source of national pride.

During WW2, American fighter and bomber squadrons based in the Pacific would routinely send engine parts; magnetos, carburettors etc back to Qantas in Australia for major service or overhaul – something that was often not possible on sparsely equipped jungle bases. They would be returned with the customary manila-beige ticket attached by copper wire stating 'Serviced by Qantas'. Regulations at the time stated that all parts had to be inspected by Air-force personnel upon return, but such was the reputation for quality and accuracy in those days that a part returned with that ticket and those magic words meant it was good to go!

But over recent years there has been an increasingly steady drip of 'minor mishaps'. Not just the recent 747's oxygen canisters blowing holes in the wing root last month, but others such as the jumbo overshooting the runway in Thailand, undercarriage doors not closing after take-off, hydraulic fluid leaking in the air, faulty engines being shut down halfway through the flight. The list goes on.

Management downplays it and calls them ‘mishaps’, ‘technical malfunctions’ or other euphemisms to try to convince us that somehow this stuff ‘doesn’t really count’ in safety or accident statistics. But to those who’ve known the airline for a long time one thing is sure – this stuff never happened before.

http://www.huliq.com/65139/new-qantas-accident-now-door-open-midair

Qantas is becoming just another airline run by bean-counters instead of its people. It started when the government privatised ‘just a small percentage’ of the airline – ‘nothing to worry about’, which was then followed by another ‘small’ sell-off. It used to be ‘our’ airline - now it is majority owned by foreigners. As one local recently wrote ‘would someone please remove the Kangaroo off the tail of the aircraft and stop calling it ‘Australia’s’ national carrier’.

Since then, part of the servicing has been off-shored to countries with cheaper labour costs (but not necessarily similar safety standards) and those domestic engineers with years or decades of experience not laid off had some of their work replaced by local sub-contracted firms who now compete at the lowest price.

The engineers used to be able to go home at the end of every day confidant that each aircraft was fully safe to fly. Now they are having their hours cut, their workloads increased, they are not getting the right tools and management is making them responsible for the work of service technicians in the second and third world. They are not given the time to fully inspect others work yet are being politically cornered into signing the plane as airworthy. Now that is not to say they are knowingly putting un-airworthy planes in the air – but these dedicated mechanics know that there’s a difference between crossing a line at 55% and getting well past it at 85% or more.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23026208-2,00.html

The engineers at Qantas have known for a long time that management is indulging in their salami-slicing tactics - taking a millimetre off here and a millimetre off there. But now even the non-technical flight-attendants can smell something’ fishy and wanting more than being fobbed off with the usual glib assurances from those in charge. After all, they are the ones being asked to go up each and every day.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080803/wl_asia_afp/australiaairlineqantasunion

I have a sinking feeling that it is just a matter of time now before a serious accident happens. Maybe at that point the management will decide that they have finally shaved off enough…