A Qatar Airways Boeing 777 freighter aircraft was damaged during an eight-hour hour from Atlanta to Frankfurt on July 28 after an unsecured cargo pallet shifted around the hold and damaged the plane.
The seven-year-old aircraft had flown from Frankfurt to Atlanta the same day and was returning with a belly hold of new cargo when the loading team seemingly forgot to lock the cargo pallet into position.
We may never know exactly what happened, however, because Germany’s aviation accident agency, the BFU, has concluded that the damage caused to the Qatar Airways freighter wasn’t a serious incident or accident and, therefore, doesn’t require investigation.
The unsecured cargo pallet weighing 3.9 tonnes was only discovered after the aircraft had landed back in Frankfurt on the morning of July 29 and at that point the damage to the aircraft was pretty self-evident.
In fact, the aircraft was so badly damaged that it had to be grounded for six days before it could finally be flown back to Qatar at a cruising altitude of just 23,000 feet – suggesting that the airline might be concerned about pressurisation issues.
The aircraft has remained on the ground in the Qatari capital Doha since August 3, where it will presumably undergo repair work at Qatar Airways’ home base.
