Bad Week: Qantas Boeing 737 Diverts Twice In Three Days
The aircraft had to return to its origin airport on October 19th and on October 21st. A Boeing 737-800 registered VH-XZF aircraft, operated by Qantas, has twice diverted twice in three days, with one incident occurring from Auckland to Sydney on October 19th and another two days later. The aircraft was performing a two-hour "flight to nowhere" on October 21st, with the crew receiving an indication of a fault on one of their radios. The first incident occurred at FL360 over the Tasman Sea, about 300NM west of Auckland, before the second two days after, an issue with its radio system. The 737 landed safely on Auckland's runway 05R two hours after departure, and the other two incidents occurred near the same time off the Australian coast. No specific recovery flight for passengers of QF137 has been arranged. The Boeing 737 was delivered to Qantsas in May 2013 and has only ever flown with the Australian carrier.
Published : 2 years ago by Chris Loh in Travel
It's been a bad week for one specific Boeing 737-800 operated by Qantas. The aircraft had a two-hour "flight to nowhere" on October 19th, as well as another diversion due to similar issues two days later, on October 21st.
As first reported by The Aviation Herald, a Qantas Boeing 737-800 registered VH-XZF was performing flight QF142 on Thursday, October 19th, when the first incident occurred—flying from Auckland to Sydney. After departing at 08:28 local time, the jet was en route at FL360 over the Tasman Sea about 300NM west of Auckland when the crew turned the aircraft around.
Headed towards Auckland, the aircraft first descended to FL250 and flew at this altitude for 15 minutes before descending again to FL150 and flying for about 30 minutes. The 737 landed safely back on Auckland's runway 05R approximately two hours after departure.
As per the Aviation Herald, Qantas reported that the crew had received an indication of a fault on one of their radios.
The aircraft remained on the ground in Auckland for about four hours but departed again at 14:27 local time as flight QFA142. The aircraft then landed in Sydney at 15:13. The total delay for passengers was about five hours and 45 minutes.
Just two days later, on October 21st, VH-XZF again encountered issues with its radio system.
The aircraft departed from Sydney at 11:42 as flight QF137 headed for Christchurch, New Zealand. Again flying over the Tasman Sea, this time about 410NM southeast off the Australian coast, the 737 turned around and returned to Sydney.
Simple Flying contacted Qantas about this incident, with an airline spokesperson telling us,
After returning to Sydney a little over two hours after departing, VH-XZF sat on the ground for the remainder of October 21st. The airline spokesperson noted that the fault was repaired by engineers in Sydney. The 737 then took off the next day as QF735 at 12:05 headed for Adelaide.
As for the passengers of QF137, no specific recovery flight appears to have been arranged. However, Qantas operates a daily late-night service between the two cities in the form of QF139, allowing the affected QF137 passengers to get to their destination around eight hours later.
Planespotters.net lists the Boeing 737-800 registered VH-XZF as now being 10-and-a-half years old. The aircraft, named 'Cygnet,' has manufacturer serial number (MSN) 39370 and line number 4450. The aircraft was delivered to Qantas in May 2013 and has only ever flown with the Australian carrier.
Powered by a pair of CF56 engines, ch-aviation lists the aircraft as having accumulated 28,262 flight hours across 12,350 cycles as of June 30th 2023.
What do you make of these two incidents? Share your thoughts by leaving a comment!
Topics: Aviation, Airlines, Boeing