Gizmodo: qantas

747 Electronics Fail, Pilot Flies Blind Across the Pacific Piggy-Backing to Another Plane

Jesus Diaz — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 13:59:59 EDT

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the 284 passengers on board Quantas Flight 12—a Boeing 747-400 flying from Los Angeles to Sydney—couldn't believe their eyes when they looked through their windows to see another Boeing from Air New Zealand flying just a few thousand feet from their aircraft. The explanation, as the commander announced, was simple: He was "flying blind" after their aircraft's weather radar broke three hours after take off. Fortunately, as Qantas explained, the Air New Zealand flight was able to relay the data their 747 needed all the way to the other side of the Pacific:

The Air New Zealand flight was a short distance ahead and it provided the Qantas aircraft with information from its own radar system throughout the journey. It travelled on the best weather path and the Qantas flight was able to follow behind. The aircraft was vertically separated according to operating procedure at all times - there was no danger to passengers.

The Sydney Morning Herald, however, disagrees: "The Herald understands that the two aircraft were separated by only a few thousand metres as weather updates were sent across to the Qantas plane, and that Qantas passengers could see the other jet through their windows." Knowing all the problems that Qantas have had lately and their fuzzy excuses, it won't surprise me. [SMH]

Qantas Now Pretty Sure That Your iPod Didn't Almost Crash Their Plane

John Herrman — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 05:00:00 EDT

Early last week a Qantas Airlines Airbus A330 surprised (and injured) its passengers with an inexplicable 300ft climb, followed by an even larger drop. Initial reports seemed to place blame on interference from personal electronics — something that Qantas had claimed before. After the news made the rounds the situation became muddied, with Qantas claiming that the initial news reporting misrepresented their claims and reporters backing away from the story. In any case, rest easy, Australian in-flight gadgeteers — it wasn't your fault.

The Air Data Inertial Reference System, which supplies position and attitude information to the plane's electronic instrumentation system, starting producing bogus data due to an internal error, not external interference. As funny as the ideas of an A330-controlling iPhone app or an Autopilot-B-Gone are, the general consensus of experts that spoke on this issue is that commercial jets are unlikely to be affected at all by personal electronics, let alone driven into the ground. [ABC AU via Slashdot]

Qantas Looking To Blame A330's Sudden Drop in Altitude On Passengers' Gadgets?

John Mahoney — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 13:45:00 EDT

Earlier this week, a Qantas A330 inexplicably climbed 300 feet and then suddenly nose-dived back down. In the cabin, 71 people were injured. Interestingly, the ATSB is now looking at in-cabin interference from personal electronics as a possible cause of the "irregularity with the aircraft's elevator control system." Wait, what? Really?

This wouldn't be the first time Qantas has blamed passengers' gadgets for an in-flight mishap; in July, a Bluetooth mouse was said to have resulted in a Qantas jet's autopilot being thrown off course. Passengers on Tuesday's ill-fated altitude drop will now be questioned regarding what electronics they may have been using at the time of the incident.

The issue of whether everyday personal electronics can actually cause any significant problems on board an airliner is clouded, to say the least. On one hand, it's hard to see how such common devices that meet FCC and UL interference standards can affect airliners that are designed to be able to withstand lightning strikes—critical components on a commercial jet are shielded to prevent any kind of interference getting through. On the other side, claims of the insulation degrading in older jets making them more susceptible to interference make sense. Then of course there is the perfectly rational "why chance it" argument.

This Wiki page delves into the issue in more detail, and Patrick from Ask the Pilot, one of my favorite online columns, gave the issue a characteristically sober and level-headed look earlier this year (verdict: interference technically possible but highly unlikely). So why Qantas would be making a push for this line of reasoning is kind of a mystery.

[UPDATE: Nick from Giz OZ has let us know that this story may be in fact a result of a misunderstanding—apparently a reporter got the jet's onboard computers (for navigation, etc) mixed up with the computers of actual passengers in his original report. The NTSB is still not ruling out interference from passenger gadgets, though.]

What about you guys? Do you heed the warnings to turn off everything, or fly in the face of danger with iPod blaring away during takeoff. Must admit I've been guilty of the latter, occasionally.

[NZ Herald via Slashdot, Photo: Daquella Manera/Flickr]

Skype, Porn May Not Fly In Friendly Skies

Wilson Rothman — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 12:45:00 EST

The good news is, all you guys who have been dreading the use of internet calling on airplanes may be in luck, because airlines and airborne service providers alike are considering a ban on Skype. The bad news is, they're also considering a ban on that age-old lonely traveler's companion, porn, says the AP. Here's a list of soon-to-be-Wi-Fi'd airlines and what services they plan to ban:

• American Airlines and Alaskan Airlines are saying ix-nay to Ype-Skay, but say there's no plan to lock out the nudie sites. The head of Aircell, which is wiring up these planes, cited a likelihood that "decency and good sense and normal behavior" will guide people's surfing decisions.

• Virgin America is considering a Skype ban. Virgin's director of in-flight entertainment cited concerns about passengers "yapping away or playing on a boom box." (Boom box? WTF?) Virgin will give parents the opportunity to control their kids net access, and may limit large downloads.

• Australia's Qantas Airways is testing high-speed net access by Panasonic Avionics Corp., which plans to block sites from "an objectionable list," including sites that feature porn or violence. (Note to grammar nuts: we're pretty sure they mean the sites are objectionable, not the list itself.) They may block Skype calls on the PC, but not on Wi-Fi handsets, which demand less bandwidth. Panasonic says that airlines could block incoming calls—and annoying ringtones.

• Air France is going to wait and see about its OnAir system for cellphone calls, setting up rules only after complaints start coming in. How laissez-faire!

The AP story also raises an important legal question: If you hack a website or engage in some RIAA-hatin' file swapping on a flight between New York and Nova Scotia, which country's laws apply? [AP; source image]

Qantas Revives In-Flight Internet With Wi-Fi and Ethernet Access

Jason Chen — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 14:00:40 EDT

Just when most other airlines and airplane manufacturers are removing in-flight internet access, Qantas goes the exact opposite direction (into our hearts) and adds internet access. The A380 and 747-400 planes that will make up their web-enabled fleet will have both Wi-Fi and a charging slot to plug your laptop into. Not much else here in the way of pricing or availability, but expect a lofty surcharge if you want to get a seat with both outlets, an Ethernet port, USB ports, and a 17-inch built-in LCD. Service starts in February 2008, but you'll be getting sub-dialup speeds as everyone clown-cars into a 432kbps connection. [APC Mag]

Qantas Airline Has New Rules For Dells

Jason Chen — Wed, 23 Aug 2006 19:00:14 EDT

If you've got a Dell laptop and you're going to be flying Qantas sometime soon, be aware of their new rules regarding your precious lappy. The airline still allows you to carry on your Dell in your standard carry-on, but if you want to use it, there's only two options. One is to remove your battery and move up to first or business class and power your computer via power supply. The second is to just use it on battery power, which is probably what most people are going to do anyway. What you can't do is have your battery inside your laptop while you're plugged in to the aircraft's power supply.

However, some airports are making people tape up their batteries entirely, which means your laptop's only usable if you plug it in. – Jason Chen

Safety first for carry-on Dells [Sydney Morning Herald - Thanks Willy!]