The Qantas jet was without instrument landing systems at the time of the emergency landing into Manila, after sustaining
damages by an exploding oxygen bottle, investigators have confirmed. The Melbourne-bound Qantas aircraft, a Boeing 747-400, was flying at 29,000 feet when the crew was forced to make an
emergency descent after a section of the fuselage separated and resulted in a rapid decompression of the cabin. The crew diverted the aircraft to Manila to carry out a safe landing of over 300 passengers on board. The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) has confirmed that the aircraft's three instrument landing systems and the
anti-skid system were not available for the arrival at Manila. “However, evidence indicates that all the aircraft's main systems, including engines and hydraulics, were functioning
normally,” said ATSB spokesman Julian Walsh. The investigation has also found that a piece of the oxygen tank entered the passenger cabin and hit an emergency door
handle, making it part way into the open position. Mr Walsh said, however, the door latches were still engaged at the time of the incident and there was no danger of the door
opening due to its design. The ATSB said the aircraft cockpit voice recorder (CVR) was downloaded by safety specialists, but the two-hour recording
which works on an endless loop principle did not contain the event. The aircraft was moved to a hangar for further investigation and the remainder of the freight on the aircraft has been
examined and removed from around the area of the rupture. A number of components and parts of components are being retained for further examination and analysis at the ATSB
engineering facilities in Canberra.
