10 August 2008

The great QANTAS safety record myth

Three recent QANTAS aviation safety "incidents", including a very serious one near Manila on 25 July 2008 when a large part from the fuselage of a B747-400 was lost but fortunately no one was injured, have yet again seen misreporting in the non-aviation news media about the safety record of the airline. For example, Bloomberg fell for this myth in a 25 July 2008 story - "Qantas, which has never had a fatal plane accident in its 87-year history, ..."

As a historian this bugs me and I was intrigued to find that someone has put an article on Wikipedia with the facts, listing the airline's fatal accidents.

An Australian Transport Safety Bureau media release dated 30 July 2008 provides an update on the B747 depressurisation incident.

QANTAS has yet to lose a jet aircraft hull and I hope it never does.

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