Source: Radio Australia Author: 07/28/2008
Subject Concerned: Government Aircraft Airlines
Australia's Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) says all Qantas 747 planes must have their oxygen bottles inspected.
The national air safety regulator says Qantas must make sure the oxygen bottles in its 30 planes are not in a vulnerable location.
The requirement follows passenger complaints about malfunctioning oxygen masks during an emergency landing in Manila, after a hole was blown in the fuselage of a Qantas carrier on July 25.
Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) spokesman Peter Gibson says Qantas has been ordered to inspect the oxygen bottles on its 747 fleet while the investigation into the emergency landing continues.
"We think it's prudent to put safety first to get inspections done now rather than waiting any longer," he told a press conference in Manila.
Meantime, Australia's Transport Safety Bureau has confirmed that an oxygen cylinder is missing from the Qantas jet.
But the Bureau says it is too early to know if it caused the explosion that blasted a hole in the side of the jet soon after it took off from Hong Kong.