Changes to Qantas protocols after wild flight injures three, concussed worker continues flying

Qantas has been given a shake-up by Australia’s air safety investigator after a rough flight which left a cabin crew member with a broken ankle and another with concussion.

Qantas has made changes to protocols and to how it assesses crew members after turbulence, following a rough flight which saw three crew members injured. Picture: File photo/Luis Enrique Ascui

Qantas has been given a shake-up by Australia’s air safety investigator after a wild flight from Sydney to Brisbane which left three cabin crew members injured, one with a broken ankle and another with concussion.

The flight, in May last year, was hit with “severe unexpected turbulence” as it descended through a cloud, according to an Australian Transport Safety Bureau report released on Tuesday.

“While anticipating some mild turbulence, the captain did not communicate to the cabin crew about expected turbulence during descent, likely as a result of not knowing its severity,” the report found.

Cabin crew were checking toilets were empty and ensuring all passengers were seated “when the severe turbulence was encountered”, according to the report.

ATSB transport safety director Dr Stuart Godley said two cabin crew sustained minor injuries but the third suffered a fractured ankle and was unable to move from the rear galley floor.

He said two cabin crew and two passengers, including an off-duty doctor, remained with the most severely injured flight attendant unrestrained during the landing.

“Qantas 737 standard operating procedures rely on the customer service manager – the senior member of the cabin crew – informing the flight crew if the cabin is not secured for landing,” Dr Godley said.

“While the CSM contacted the captain to inform them about the injured cabin crew member and that some passengers were standing, the captain did not recall receiving any requests for more time to prepare the cabin for landing, and twice directed all uninjured cabin crew and passengers to return to their seats.

“Landing is a critical phase of flight, and the unrestrained cabin crew and passengers were exposed to a higher risk of injury in a landing-based emergency, which in turn would have compromised the cabin crew’s ability to manage any such emergency situation.

“Data shows that almost 80 per cent of serious turbulence-related injuries in airline operations are sustained by cabin crew, and the most common time for these to occur is when preparing the cabin for landing.”

Dr Godley said the seriously injured cabin crew member was treated by paramedics after the flight arrived in Brisbane.

But the ATSB report found that the other two injured flight attendants did not receive any immediate follow-up medical checks or treatment.

“While one of the injured crew self-diagnosed their facial injury the next day, the other was unaware they had sustained a concussion and operated on multiple flights while experiencing concussion symptoms before being treated,” Dr Godley said.

“Qantas has subsequently updated its post-event incident notification protocol to include contact with the Qantas on-call doctor in the event of significant cabin crew injury or illness.

“Additionally, the airline has implemented additional controls to adequately assess the fitness of crew members after a turbulence event or other unplanned aircraft movement.”