Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner forced to stop for more fuel
A Qantas flight from London to Perth was forced to make an unexpected landing in a mining town in Western Australia after encountering headwinds without enough fuel to complete its planned journey in one go.
QF10, a 17-hour flight, was scheduled to land at Perth Airport at noon today but was instead diverted to Karratha Airport, approximately 1,500 kilometers north of the Pilbara region.
The 787 Dreamliner had to refuel after weather conditions changed en route; This is a fairly rare occurrence that occasionally occurs on long-haul flights.
The surprise landing comes just days after Qantas announced the timing of its ambitious ultra-long-haul Project Sunrise flights, which will connect Sydney to London in non-stop flights that could last 22 hours. This shows how the weather could face the new service.
Qantas said the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner required more fuel to complete the final two hours of its journey because in-flight weather conditions forced the crew to adjust the flight path.
The aircraft remained on the ground for about an hour before continuing towards Perth.
Karratha Airport, used mostly to serve the region’s in-and-out mining workforce, was only approved last month to accept larger aircraft.
Home to approximately 25,000 people, the location in the town has become a designated limited-use international airport and alternative international airport.
The Perth-bound flight left London Heathrow at 12.28 British Standard Time and landed in Karratha approximately 16 hours and 23 minutes later at 11.51 local time on Tuesday.
It left Karratha at 12.58pm local time and arrived at 2.36pm local time (16.36 AEST).
Salim Hijazeen, an aviation lecturer at Swinburne University in Melbourne, said an aircraft’s flight plan for routes hours away from an airport on the ocean clearly details the nearest available routing airfields for each specific point in time.
“Pilots are constantly making fuel calculations during flight to ensure actual fuel consumption matches pre-flight predictions,” he said.
Aircraft often optimize their fuel supply to ensure they have sufficient capacity for the duration of the flight and have scope for deviations or delays.
Hijazeen said pilots made decisions about rerouting fairly early in the flight, looking at weather conditions and whether the plane could physically land at that airport. He said they also received help from air traffic control.
“Essentially, if something happens, they know exactly where to go. This isn’t a last-minute change where they’re frantically looking for an airport; they already know which airport to go to.”
The Perth-London route has helped unlock the appetite for long-distance direct connections between Australia and the UK. The 17-hour period is seen as a step towards Qantas’ Project Sunrise flights, which will connect Sydney to London on a 22-hour route.
Qantas said it would start direct Sydney-London flights from 2027 with a modified Airbus A350-1000ULR (for ultra-long range).
The A350-1000 ULR’s 18,000 kilometer range means the aircraft can arrive in London flying east or west from Australia, depending on winds and airspace restrictions.
The London-Sydney Project Sunrise flight is expected to take 18 to 20 hours, while the fastest flight from Sydney to London is 19 hours 25 minutes and the longest is 21 hours.
The fact that routes can vary greatly from day to day means that the aircraft may approach London from the north after crossing the North Pole.
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