Sunday 30 June 2019

REX airline employees call for grounding of ‘unsafe’ fleet

REX SAAB 340 VH-EKX (CN 257)               File Photo
















Engineers are calling for the entire Regional Express (REX) airline fleet to be grounded over safety concerns. It follows the release of a 17-page report by maintenance crew and engineers employed by the airline. In the report, employees allege they were routinely intimidated into not reporting safety defects. In one case a staff member claims to have reported corrosion on a propeller, only to be victimised by his employer as a result. That same fault was allegedly found to be a major factor in an incident over Sydney in 2017. The Civil Aviation Safety Authority is currently investigating the report. REX is Australia's largest independent airline, running 1500 flights to 60 destinations each week. The airline responded late today, slamming the claims as "wild accusations" and backing its safety record.
© Nine Digital Pty Ltd 2019

Story sourced from here

REX SAAB 340 VH-REX (CN 384)          File Photo

















On the 17 March 2017, the right propeller sheared off a Regional Express Saab 340B, Registration -VH-NRX,(CN 291) while operating flight ZL768 from Albury to Sydney. The pilot made a pan-pan-pan call but was able to land the plane without incident. The Australian Transport Safety Bureau after investigating found a fatigue crack in the engine’s propeller mounting flange.


Regional Express (also known as Rex) is an Australian airline based in Mascot, New South Wales.
It operates scheduled regional services. It is Australia's largest regional airline outside the Qantas group of companies and serves New South Wales, South Australia, Victoria, Queensland, Tasmania, Darwin and Western Australia. Its entire fleet consists of 57 Swedish built Saab 340 turboprop aircraft seating 33, 34 or 36 passengers. 


Saturday 29 June 2019

Brisbane gets diversions due to fog in Sydney

I woke at 5.30am and I thought I would check the flight radar like I do every morning and I noticed a A380, Qantas 8  (Dallas - Sydney), was diverting to Brisbane. Didn't think anything of it as this happens often. Then I noticed another A380, Qantas 12 (LA - Sydney) was also diverting to Brisbane along with Qantas 74, a B747 (San Fran - Sydney),. So I thought... bugger... I then got out of my warm bed, got dressed and headed to the airport. As the morning progressed we had a few other diversions in the way of a Virgin Airlines B777 (LA-Sydney) a Air Canada 777 (Vancouver - Sydney) A Cathay Pacific A330 (Hong Kong to Sydney) and a Qantas B737 (Christchurch - Sydney)




QANTAS A380-842 VH-OQI (CN 055)
FROM DALLAS - OFF TO SYDNEY



QANTAS A380-842 VH-OQA (CN 014)
FROM LA- OFF TO SYDNEY





VIRGIN AUSTRALIA B777-3ZG VH-VPD (CN 37938)
ARRIVING FROM LOS ANGELES





QANTAS B747-438 VH-OEH (CN 32912)
FROM SAN FRANCISCO - OFF TO SYDNEY









AIR CANADA B777-233 C-FIUF (CN 35243)
FROM VANCOUVER



CATHAY PACIFIC A330-343 B-LAK (CN 1196)
FROM HONG KONG





















Saturday morning at Brisbane Airport

As mention in my story above this one, due to fog in Sydney Brisbane got some diversions, so I came out to see them. Below are the other photos I took this morning.


SINGAPORE A350-941 9V-SHH (CN 316)
ARRIVING FROM SINGAPORE



QANTAS A330-303 VH-QPH (CN 0695)
ARRIVING FROM TOKYO


JETSTAR A320-232 VH-VQK (CN 2651)
OFF TO HOBART



VIRGIN AUSTRALIA B737-8FE VH-YIZ (CN 40702)
ARRIVING FROM DENPASSAR


QANTAS A330-202 VH-EBF (CN 853)
TOWED TO INTL

KOREAN AIR A330-323 HL-8003 (CN 1590)
ARRIVING FROM SEOUL


JETSTAR B787-8 VH-VKH (CN 36233)
OFF TO DENPASSAR


QANTAS B737-838 VH-XZP (CN 44577)
OFF TO ADELAIDE

QANTAS B737-838 VH-VYD (CN 33992)
OFF TO MELBOURNE

MALINDO B737-8GP 9M-LNV (CN 39867)
OFF TO DENPASSAR

SCOOT B787-8 9V-OFB (CN 37118)
SINGAPORE - COOLANGATTA

QANTAS B737-838 VH-XZJ (CN 39365)
ARRIVING FROM AUCKLAND

AIR NEW ZEALAND A320-271NEO ZK-NHC (CN 8833)
ARRIVING FROM WELLINGTON



QANTASLINK B717-2K9 VH-NXG (CN 55057)


NAURU AIRLINES B737-36N VH-PNI (CN 28555)
OFF TO PORT VILA

HEVILIFT ATR 72-500 VH-FVM (CN 0979)
OFF TO BROKEN HILL

CHINA SOUTHERN A330-323 B-8360 (CN 1793)
ARRIVING FROM GUANGZHOU

AIR CANADA B787-8 C-GHPX (CN 35261)
ARRIVING FROM VANCOUVER

AIR ASIA X A330-343 9M-XXA (CN 0952)
KUALA LUMPUR - COOLANGATTA

QANTAS A330-202 VH-EBF (CN 0853)
OFF TO AUCKLAND

CHINA EASTERN A330-243 B-5931 (CN 1440)
ARRIVING FROM SHANGHAI


PEOPLES DAILY ONLINE SCHEME


AIR NEW ZEALAND A320-271NX ZK-NNA (CN 8496)
OFF TO AUCKLAND


TIGERAIR B737-8FE VH-VOY (CN 33799)
ARRIVING FROM MELBOURNE

TREPANG SERVICES DASSAULT FALCON 900 VH-PPD (CN 185)




SINGAPORE A350-941 9V-SHH (CN 316)
OFF TO SINGAPORE

PHILIPPINE AIRLINES A321-271N RP-C9936 (CN 8619)
ARRIVING FROM MANILA

QANTAS B787-9 VH-ZNF (CN 36239)
TOWED TO INTL - LATER WENT TO LA AS QF 15