Write Employment Reference: I Worked for Quantas Airlines...Is That so Bad?

What is happening to my favourite airline? Quantas was a company that boasted one of the greatest safety records in the world and suddenly it seems to all be falling apart. I used to do a considerable amount of business overseas, including trips to that remarkable Australian continent and then back to the Far East. The service was impeccable and I always felt safe.

Their safety record is about to hit the skids. The former "safest airline in the world" had to have one of its A330-300s make an emergency landing today as a result of what is looking like excessive turbulence. The exact nature of the mid-air drama is unclear. What is certain is that thirty-six passengers and crew sustained injuries in a bizarre event that is just another in a string of peculiar happenings that appear to be plaguing the Australian airline.

The company might consider to start asking for sample proof of employment letters from its pilots. How the airline has gone so many years without incident and then just recently a rash of accidents is a mystery. The incident is actually the fourth in just over two months. It's not as if the planes are flying into oil rigs and dolly structures, these planes are just having incredible difficulties on their own. On July 25th an exploding oxygen bottle smashed a hole through a Quantas Boeing 747 causing an emergency landing in the Philippines. As far as registering on the physical science current events meter, that one had to be off the charts. Somebody clearly wasn't paying close attention to the safety demonstration.

The good news as far the July incident is concerned was that nobody was hurt. This is the confusing yet amazing aspect of the story. A hole is blown clean through the body of an airliner, and it is still able to land safely without anybody being harmed. That is an impressive aircraft. However, another plane hits what appears to be turbulence and dozens of passengers experience lacerations and fractures. Strange indeed. Perhaps the fasten safety belt sign wasn't working. It could have been that the crew was fascinated by the stories of supernatural mysteries in the Bermuda Triangle and just figured they were safe where they were flying.

Three days after the mysterious exploding oxygen bottle incident another Quantas 737 had to return to Adelaide after a landing gear door failed to retract. Always good to learn about mechanical failures instead of pilot error. This way it is harder to point the finger. What a shame that any finger should be pointed at all considering the airline's safety record. If somebody at Quantas was asked to sit down at the beginning of the year and punch in any combination of mathematics factorials in an attempt to determine the likelihood of this series of accidents occurring, the resulting calculation would have probably come close to nil.

Hopefully, this run of bad luck is nothing more than a series of unfortunate events. It wouldn't be fair to judge the future reliability and safety of this company exclusively on a few isolated events. What makes it difficult to forget is the manner in which they all came together. Had each incident occurred in an isolated fashion, once every five to ten years, nobody would think twice about it. Instead, the year carries four particular events where passenger safety was in question and now it becomes a public relations matter. Fortunately, it's not like a couple incidents in the United States where the pilots involved are now wondering where to apply for a liquor license in Missouri. Instead, some of the keenest aeronautic minds will be put to the test and my favourite airline will rise up from the ashes. I'm certain the friendly skies will be friendly once again.