Qantas hails safety in A380 jet wake turbulence drama

Qantas has rejected claims that an A380 jet ‘nosedived’ during a mid-air ­scare that passengers described as a 10-second free fall.

A Qantas Airbus A380 takes off from Sydney airport. Picture: AFP

Qantas has strongly rejected suggestions that one of its A380 jets nosedived during a mid-air ­incident this week despite terrified passengers reporting they experienced a 10-second free-fall that felt like being on a rollercoaster.

The Australian revealed yesterday that the scare above the ­Pacific Ocean, about two hours into a QF94 flight from Los Angeles to Melbourne, is believed to have been caused by “wake turbulence” generated by another A380.

The second jet, QF12, was ­flying from Los Angeles to Sydney and took off two minutes before QF94

It is the latest in a string of mid-air scares potentially linked to the wake turbulence of the giant A380s.

Qantas said yesterday that QF94 was about 37km behind and 1000 feet below QF12 when it encountered disturbed air.

“It may have felt bumpy for the passengers, but the data shows the total up-and-down aircraft nose movement was three degrees,” chief pilot Richard Tobiano said.

“The reports of a nosedive or a plunge are wrong.”

Former commercial airline pilot Byron Bailey questioned why the pilot of QF94 was only 1000 feet below the other A380 and called for better aircraft separation standards.

“One thousand feet is asking for trouble,” he said yesterday.

But Qantas said the 1000-foot limitation reflected a global air traffic control standard for aircraft flying in the same direction and in the same corridor.

“It’s not a decision made by (Qantas),” a spokesman said. “These are the rules that air traffic controllers manage to and apply to all airlines.”

The spokesman said the two aircraft were significantly in ­excess of the required standard because they were also 37km apart.

The editor-in-chief of the Airline Ratings website, Geoffrey Thomas, described it as a “freak event” that was likely caused by “very still air”.

Among the passengers on QF94 was Nine Network presenter Eddie McGuire, who said yesterday the drop seemed to last about 10 ­seconds.

“For about 10 seconds there was a drop, it did have that feel of, you know, when you just go over the top of the rollercoaster, you just get a little bit of that feeling,” McGuire told the Today show.

“It just had that uneasy feeling as it pitched forward and to the side,” he said. “The most reassuring part about the whole thing was the Qantas pilot came on immediately and said we’ve gone up the back of the turbulence of the ­Sydney plane that had been ahead of us.”

Fellow QF94 passenger Janelle Wilson said the plane entered a “free-fall nosedive … a direct ­decline towards the ocean” for about 10 seconds.

“We were all lifted from our seats immediately and we were in a free-fall. It was an absolute sense of losing your stomach,’’ she said.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau said Qantas had reported the occurrence.

“The operator submitted a notification this morning, which is within the required 72-hour time frame for routinely reportable matters,” it said.

“The information contained in the notification has been reviewed and the ATSB has determined that it will not be investigating.”