Qantas has been ordered to check all oxygen bottles on its fleet of Boeing 747s after investigators said an exploding oxygen bottle might have ripped a hole in a Qantas 747, forcing it to make an emergency landing at Manila.
Australia's Civil Aviation Authority (CASA) said Qantas had agreed to inspect oxygen bottles on its fleet of 747s. The airline has about 30 of the Boeing model.
"There are two cylinders located pretty much exactly where that hole appeared," CASA spokesman Peter Gibson told reporters.
"We do know there were two oxygen bottles in that area, we do know they're a main focus of the investigation, and we think it's prudent to put safety first, to get inspections done now rather than wait any longer."
The Qantas aircraft made an emergency landing in Manila on Friday after part of its undercarriage blew off, triggering a loss in cabin pressure during a flight from Hong Kong to Melbourne.
Passengers reported hearing a loud bang before the aircraft rapidly lost altitude and said the Boeing 747-400 had a hole the size of a mini-van on the right of its undercarriage when it landed in the Philippine capital.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau said QF30 made an emergency descent from 29,000 feet to 10,000 feet. All 346 passengers and 19 crew disembarked safely. Experts from Australia are now in the Philippines to inspect the plane.
Mr Gibson said Qantas would check each oxygen bottle on its 747s and the brackets holding the containers.
"It will be a visual inspection and it is a precautionary step. The inspection will take a couple of hours for each plane so it will take a few days to do them all. They're getting their workforce ready to do that right now," he said.
Mr Gibson said oxygen bottles in other Qantas planes might also have to be inspected. "Obviously they'll be looked at in due course, but because this accident involved a 747, we'll start there," he said.
Mr Gibson also said investigators would look into reports that oxygen masks aboard the plane were in poor shape and some failed to deploy during the emergency.
Some passengers said their oxygen masks failed to work properly during the crisis, almost causing some to pass out.
"Ours didn't come down, and my husband just about (passed out) because he didn't have any oxygen for about three minutes," passenger Beverley Doors told Australian radio today.
Passenger David Saunders said one man in front of him smashed the ceiling panel to force his mask to come down, and that children were screaming and flailing.
"Their cheeks and lips were turning blue from lack of oxygen," he said.
Reuters