Qantas jet forced down by loo emergency

QANTAS continues to be plagued by a run of misfortune with a plane overnight forced to make an unscheduled stop because its toilets were too full to flush.

The fully laden 737-300 was forced to divert to Adelaide one hour into a flight from Sydney to Perth because staff had forgotten to empy the toilets after the plane’s last trip from  Honolulu and consequently four of the seven weren’t working, Fairfax reported.”Four out of seven toilets were not flushing so for the comfort of our passengers we diverted to Adelaide,” a Qantas spokeswoman said. Yesterday Qantas had to delay a flight from London to Sydney for more than 12 hours due to a rudder problem.

Passengers who were forced to spend an extra night in London while the aircraft was repaired were given hotel rooms, a Qantas spokeswoman said.Qantas has been suffering a series of mechanical issues in recent weeks, the most serious of which was an explosion that ripped a hole in the fuselage of a jet en route from Hong Kong to Melbourne on July 25, forcing an emergency landing at Manila.

Two days ago, Qantas confirmed a small access panel had fallen from a jet between Singapore and Melbourne.The problem was discovered during routine checks on the aircraft after it arrived at Singapore’s Changi Airport.Last Wednesday a hydraulic failure in a Qantas Boeing 767 from Melbourne affected the plane’s steering as it landed at Sydney airport.

The fluid leaked on the runway, which had to be closed while the spill was cleaned up.On August 2, a Qantas Boeing 767 flight turned back for an emergency landing at Sydney airport after a hydraulic fluid leak was discovered.A domestic flight was forced to return to Adelaide after a wheel bay door failed to close on July 29.