A Qantas flight from Los Angeles to Australia landed into New Zealand piggy backed on Air New Zealand plane,s radar.Its own radar conked out after leaving Los Angeles. Ahead of them the Air New Zealand plane provided cover after the Qantas plane flew within 1000 metres of Zealand's Boeing 747 port wing, relaying weather updates, and guided it into Auckland Airport on Wednesday morning.
Passengers awoked to breakfast over Auckland instead of Sydney and the announcement the flight had been diverted radarless but safe.
"The captain was fantastic, he allowed us to sleep all night and we were unaware of any real problems,said a passenger.
"I sat there and thought about it for a while and it's not exactly pleasant to imagine flying blind across the Pacific, but we are here and everybody is safe."
The faulty radar antenna was repaired and the flight arrived in Sydney four hours late on Wednesday. Nevertheless, the incident showed backup that included plane to plane connections.Multiple and redundant systems are meant to ensure radar and other systems do not fail, and if it does, there are many other plane in the route to assist.This should be the first incident of third party radar readout, and hopefully not the last.
The incident is the latest in a series of in-air dramas that has plagued Australia's national flag-carrier in recent months.
In October, a computer glitch caused a Qantas plane to plunge into a 200-metre nosedive, injuring more than 70 people, with some suffering broken bones.
In July, a mid-air blast caused by an exploding oxygen bottle punched a hole in the side of a Qantas Boeing 747-400 during a flight from Hong Kong to Melbourne. No one was injured in the incident.
It makes one,s wonder these ads are not the best for all to hear about Qantas.
Passengers awoked to breakfast over Auckland instead of Sydney and the announcement the flight had been diverted radarless but safe.
"The captain was fantastic, he allowed us to sleep all night and we were unaware of any real problems,said a passenger.
"I sat there and thought about it for a while and it's not exactly pleasant to imagine flying blind across the Pacific, but we are here and everybody is safe."
The faulty radar antenna was repaired and the flight arrived in Sydney four hours late on Wednesday. Nevertheless, the incident showed backup that included plane to plane connections.Multiple and redundant systems are meant to ensure radar and other systems do not fail, and if it does, there are many other plane in the route to assist.This should be the first incident of third party radar readout, and hopefully not the last.
The incident is the latest in a series of in-air dramas that has plagued Australia's national flag-carrier in recent months.
In October, a computer glitch caused a Qantas plane to plunge into a 200-metre nosedive, injuring more than 70 people, with some suffering broken bones.
In July, a mid-air blast caused by an exploding oxygen bottle punched a hole in the side of a Qantas Boeing 747-400 during a flight from Hong Kong to Melbourne. No one was injured in the incident.
It makes one,s wonder these ads are not the best for all to hear about Qantas.
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