Turbulence at Qantas
It is turning into something of an annus horribilis for Qantas, Australia's fabled Flying Kangaroo.
Things started to go badly awry back in July, when one of its Boeing 747-400s, flying from Hong Kong to Melbourne, was forced to make an emergency landing in Manila after an exploding oxygen cylinder opened up a terrifyingly large hole in its fuselage.
Just days later, a domestic flight from Adelaide had to turn around mid-air because the flap covering a wheel bay would not close - admittedly, the sort of incident that would have gone unreported in normal times, but which quickly came to embroider the unfolding narrative of the airline's week of woes.
Then, in August, a Boeing 747 bound for Manila, ironically enough, had to return to Sydney after developing a hydraulic fluid leak.
Now, as you no doubt will have read, there's been a mid-air drama involving a Qantas Airbus 330-300, flying from Singapore to Perth.
Some 36 passengers were injured, 15 of them seriously. Many of the injuries - broken legs and noses, severe lacerations - appear to have been sustained as passengers and crew were slammed against the ceiling and luggage racks of the cabin.
As the testimony of passengers has revealed, it must have been the most frightening of ordeals.
Government safety investigators are looking into the most recent incident - what's called clear-air turbulence is one theory for the sudden loss of altitude. Another is a possible computer problem. The Australian Transport Safety Bureau said it needed to analyse flight data recorders to determine the exact cause.
Qantas itself may not have been at fault. But it brings more unwelcome publicity for an airline which started life as the Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services (hence the acronym Qantas) that has always prided itself on its enviable safety record.
On this front, Qantas has been the beneficiary of one of the most generous plugs in movie history: the moment in Rain Man when Tom Cruise, playing Charlie, turns to Dustin Hoffman, playing Ray:
Tom: 'Ray, all airlines have crashed at one time or another, that doesn't mean they are not safe.'
Dustin: 'Qantas. Qantas never crashed.'
Rain Man was only partly true. Qantas has experienced eight fatal accidents, though never lost a jet airliner nor suffered a jet airliner-related fatality.
Qantas has also benefited from one of the most emotive 'feel good' corporate brand campaigns that I have ever seen: the tear-inducing 'I Still Call Australia Home' ads, which feature Peter Allen's famous ballad about an ex-pat's yearning for home.
(When a foreign-backed consortium launched a take-over for Qantas, which raised regulatory concerns about the legal requirement for the airline to be Australian-owned, the Chaser Boys memorably performed their own variant: 'I Still Call Australia 51% home.')
But in some respects that campaign has boomeranged. It has created among Australians a sense of ownership over their national carrier, which means everyone has an opinion, and often they are not particularly favourable.
Qantas is very much part of the national conversation. And for some, having an unhappy experience with the Flying Kangaroo is akin to being maligned by a trusted friend.
After the Manila incident, Qantas received received a slap across the knuckles from Australia's Civil Aviation Safety Authority. While the CASA did not uncover any 'direct links' between the safety incidents earlier in the year, it called upon the airline to 'address deficiencies in meeting some of its own maintenance performance targets' and announced two additional intensive audits on its fleet and maintenance systems.
So Qantas executives could be in for a bumpy ride, and may wish to take the same advice as their flight crews dispense to passengers: 'Keep your seatbelts firmly fastened.'
PS: I've been distracted by Qantas, and had been meaning to get back to you on your comments about the economy. I'll be sure to do that next time. But ahead of that, I'd love to hear what you all make of the 1% drop in interest rates, the biggest single drop in 16 years.
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