I really don’t expect a hell of a lot from “the press” these days.  Their standards are falling precipitously.  But when I read the following headline and leader, I was really concerned:

Qantas plane forced to turn back

A Qantas jet was forced to make an emergency landing at Adelaide airport last night after a door opened during a flight to Melbourne.

Wow!  This sounded very serious and this hot on the heels of the incident a few days ago where some of the aircraft skin had peeled off a Qantas 747.

So I read on:

The incident came just three days after a hole was blasted in the fuselage of a Qantas 747 during an international flight to Melbourne, forcing it to land in Manila.

The Melbourne-bound Boeing 737-800 departed Adelaide at 6.08pm yesterday and returned 37 minutes later, News Ltd reported today.

Passengers said a door had opened and caused “chaos” in the cabin.

Rocco Russo told the ABC he heard a rattling noise about 10 minutes after take-off.

He says the pilot told passengers there was a problem with a door closing above the plane’s wheel.

“He then continued to fly and said that he was going to contact the engineers and then a few minutes after that came back on and said the engineers had gotten back to him and the advice was to return to Adelaide,” he said.

Qantas sources said a door had not closed properly over a wheel bay and the aircraft turned back near Murray Bridge, south-east of Adelaide.

The jet remained in Adelaide while passengers were transferred to another flight.

The incident follows the naming of Jetstar boss Alan Joyce yesterday as the new chief executive of parent company Qantas.

Mr Joyce takes over from Geoff Dixon on November 28.

Huh?  Or rather, WTF?  (Excuse my language but this really gets me going!)

As I read it, an undercarriage door failed to close fully so they turned around and went back to Adelaide.  How exactly did this cause “chaos in the cabin”?  Was the drinks service cut short?  Did someone spill their peanuts?

C’mon journos!  This is sensationalist and downright sloppy reporting.

I know some pilots read this blog – can you see anything there that could indicate a passenger danger or discomfort any more than a vibration?  Granted it is a pretty serious maintenance issue, but really!