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Qantas 787 took off with tape over key sensors

written by Hannah Dowling | May 17, 2022

Qantas has been required to update its processes for parking and preparing its 787 Dreamliner fleet for flights after a freight flight flew from Melbourne to Los Angeles with four of its static ports taped over.

According to the final report into the incident compiled by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, the presence of the tape was missed during pre-flight inspections in Melbourne by both engineers and pilots and was later picked up after arriving at its destination.

The aircraft, VH-ZNJ, landed in Los Angeles on the morning of 22 September 2021, where a Qantas engineer found all four static ports on the plane’s engine fan cowls still covered up with red “remove before flight” tape.

Static ports, which can be found at various places on the 787’s fuselage, vertical fin and engine cowls, measure ambient air pressure data, providing important air pressure data to aircraft systems.

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With the static ports taped over, the aircraft departed with “reduced redundancy to the engine electronic control system”, however, the flight was ultimately uneventful and there was “no adverse effect to aircraft or its engine systems”, the report stated.

According to ATSB director transport safety Stuart Macleod, the flight’s second officer, who conducted an exterior inspection of VH-ZNJ before the flight, reported they were aware of the fan cowl ports, but not that they could be covered by tape, the ATSB noted.

The second officer also reported they were somewhat distracted during the inspection, as they had found a pitot tube cover on the ground and were trying to hand it off to an engineering staff member at that time.

“The second officer also believed Qantas engineering had conducted a pre-flight inspection prior to the flight crew arriving at the aircraft,” Macleod added.

According to the ATSB report, while Qantas’ formal procedures for parking the 787 aircraft referenced and linked to Boeing’s method, its procedures for restoring the jet to service did not.

“This was a missed opportunity to assist engineers to readily access the current procedures and determine which ports were covered, and also allowed for different interpretations of which ports could be covered,” Macleod said

“When performing safety-critical tasks like aircraft maintenance, it is very important that procedures are clear and unambiguous to avoid misinterpretation and error such as occurred in this incident.”

Following the occurrence, Qantas distributed memos to its engineering, and flight and ramp crews, highlighting the location of the fan cowl static ports and that these may be covered.

In addition, the airline amended its “park” and “restore” engineering instructions to both reference Boeing’s procedures.

The investigation report also notes the metre-long tail of the “remove before flight” tape covering the static ports was stuck down, to prevent it being torn from the fuselage in strong winds, as per Boeing’s recommended procedure.

“This likely reduced the visibility of it covering the fan cowl static port covers,” Macleod said.

“Targeted inspection of locations and components, rather than relying on streamers, which can detach, can help to identify when these covers or devices have not been removed.”

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Comments (13)

  • Lynden Kemp

    says:

    Just a matter of time perhaps?
    “For the safest airline in the World”!

  • GSF

    says:

    On our historic aircraft, we have a cupboard with hooks for every tag and no aircraft moves unless the collection is signed off and witnessed.

  • Rod Pickin

    says:

    The 2nd dicky doing the walkabout especially after the A/C having been parked for a while; – was it cold wet and windy outside???. I mean not only was the complete departure/taxi team missing the obvious but, whilst not their direct responsibility, was the “Tower Team” looking but not seeing as well?. Thankfully all went well this time, however this is not an isolated incident, (MH – BNE). Seriously, there is a problem here!!

  • JOHN TYLER

    says:

    I’m surprised that these covered static ports did not give rise to erroneous data which I assume would have the pilots at least somewhat confused as to the configuration of the aircraft or perhaps they were also somewhat distracted throughout the flight to the US ?

    • Greg

      says:

      First, the covered static ports were on the engines. They supply a redundant ambient pressure signal to the electronic engine control computer in the event that primary data from the static ports on the airframe is lost.
      Second: QAL don’t have 787 freighters. It’s not unusual for passenger aircraft to do freight runs, with no passengers on the main deck, and freight instead of bags in the cargo compartments under the main deck floor. It became more frequent during the Covid pandemic. Believe it or not, the margins on freight are better than economy class pax.
      Further, QAL 787-9’s do Perth-London & Sydney-Dallas. And range is related to payload. If you don’t have any pax on the main deck, you’re not at full payload, and you’re capable of longer range. MEL-LAX partially laden is no challenge for a 787-9.
      Third, the intent of taping static ports is to stop insects and foreign materials entering and blocking the static ports where such a blockage would not be readily visible. The technique for taping static ports as per the aircraft maintenance manual is to not provide a hermetic seal, but to tape over the top of non-adhesive hi-vis barrier tape on the lower edge of the cover, so any moisture accumulation in the static lines from flying in precipation, or condensation after landing, can drain.
      This also means that any large ambient air pressure changes, eg from a change in weather and/or large temperature changes during parking, will gently & slowly equalise. When the covers are subsequently removed, perhaps days or weeks after being first fitted, there will be no large instantaneous changes in static pressure, which are not goood for the air data modules that convert static pressure to an electronic signal.
      The investigation found that as always, there were a number of factors that contributed to the covers being missed. As always in these matters, every defence layer has holes in it like Swiss cheese. In this instance, the holes in the Swiss cheese lined up. The report has exposed those holes, and measures have been taken to prevent or reduce the chance of a recurrence.

  • Marum Katze

    says:

    Naughty, Naughty!

    A thousand lashes Mr. Joyce.. for outsourcing our maintenance.

    “But Marum! What would I do with thousand lashes? I’ve only got little beady eyes.

    Gurgle….Marum.

  • Eric Giddio

    says:

    Unbelievable that this kind of incident still occurs given the potential for disaster. Two other incidents of the same kind that I recall which resulted in a complete loss of souls and aircraft; Aeroperu 603 & Birgenair 301.

  • Ross

    says:

    If Qantas wasn’t so busy in trying to be woke and just concentrate on being an airline things like this wouldn’t happen. Had to listen to welcome to country when landing in Perth. What a joke this airline has become. Never flying with them again. Go woke go broke.

  • R J Bizjet

    says:

    QANTAS a shell of it’s former self…shame on you Joyce, Shame…….p.s how’s the $19 million house going ?

  • John

    says:

    Something fishy here. I don’t know how many static ports a QAL 787 has, but if 4 were covered that’s the usual number.
    If all were covered that means no IAS on take-off, so how did they get airborne with no speed calls????
    Secondly, since when did QAL have Boeing 787 freighters, let alone have them flying MEL to LAX non-stop???

    • Derek

      says:

      Sorry incorrect, blocked pitot probes results in no IAS indications. Blocked static ports will not be evident on the takeoff roll but immediately after liftoff it will be obvious because the VSI will remain at zero, the altitude indications will remain at airfield elevation and as the aircraft climbs IAS will erroneously decrease.

      Note that if the taping of the ports was not perfectly sealed then random indications can occur as pressure changes are sensed due to ‘leakage’.

  • Oliver

    says:

    What happened to the pre flight walk around by pilot or first officer.

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