Is Qantas Airlines safe? Two recent events have led the Australian media and others to raise that question.

The first safety issue was in November 2024. A tool was left in the engine of a Qantas A380 for nearly a month before it was discovered. A few days later, a Qantas 737 had an engine failure while taking off from Sydney. 

The Australian media covered these events extensively, raising concerns about Qantas’ safety. The Flight Safety Detectives look at whether these events establish a pattern of concern. 

One factor here is that the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) investigates events that would likely not generate a detailed report if they happened on an aircraft registered in the U.S. or elsewhere.

John Goglia and Todd Curtis also discuss a 2020 fuel dumping event over Los Angeles that resulted in many school children being exposed to fuel. The FAA issued a report that stated that fuel dumping is relatively rare in the U.S., averaging about 15 events per year from 2015 to 2020. Hear how and why these events occur.

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