QANTAS Jet Flies Minus Oxygen

A QANTAS A330 flew from its overseas C Servicing in the Philippines to Sydney with its crew oxygen turned off and the valve lockwired according to a leaked maintenance report dated March 11 on the Airbus overhaul. Manila based Lufthansa Technik had carried out a major C-check overhaul before handing back the airplane to QANTAS. David Cox, Qantas executive general manager, engineering, said the leaked details involved confidential information from the Qantas audit system and that it could become a criminal matter that a copy of the paperwork was now in someone else's hands. The issue has become another complaint in a lengthy list compiled about the safety risks of outsourced overseas maintenance. Australia's aviation regulator CASA will investigate the breach of standards.See Payne Stewart accident article