Today marks the one year anniversary of the almost disaster that was the second leg of QF32 from Singapore to Sydney, on November 4th 2010.
In the midst of the current debacle of last weekend’s 48 hour grounding of the airline as part of ongoing industrial action, it is worth remembering that one part of the fleet – VH-OQA “Nancy-Bird Walton”, the first Airbus A380 in the fleet – has actually been grounded for exactly one year awaiting repairs.
The wait has been humourously “personified” this week with the parody Twitter account Qantas_VH_OQA, where a depressed and bitter “Nancy” has been bitching and moaning about being stranded in Singapore for so long, and displaying an open disdain for Qantas CEO Alan Joyce.
Funny stuff.
Although repairs are apparently now well underway, and OQA is expected back in the air around February 2012, on this anniversary it is worth remembering exactly what happened to her, via the ABC’s Four Corners, which reported on the incident and the ongoing investigation earlier this year.
Here’s to you Nancy – come home soon!