A Qantas passenger jet made a rare diversion to help a sea rescue mission Monday after pilots were asked to circle a life-raft drifting off southern Australia, officials said.
The Australian Maritime Safety Authority said it requested Qantas' help after a search and rescue aircraft found the raft drifting 95 nautical miles (180 kilometres, 110 miles) off the town of Esperance early Monday.
"We did request that Qantas help," a spokeswoman told AFP.
"We diverted the aircraft because there was going to be a gap between when the fixed-wing (rescue) aircraft had to leave the scene and a RAAF Hercules (air force transport plane) was going to be on scene. We didn't want to lose sight of the life-raft.
"They were certainly willing to assist which was a really good thing."
Qantas said Flight 475 carrying 226 passengers from Sydney to Perth was briefly diverted to monitor the life-raft, which had set off a distress beacon.
"The Hercules ended up making it there before we did so we weren't required in the end," a Qantas spokeswoman told AFP.
"It's obviously something we would participate in," she said, adding that it was not a regular request.
Three people were later rescued from the life-raft, which was believed to have come from a fishing vessel.
http://news.malaysia.msn.com/busines...mentid=4079094
Haut
Flux RSS 
WWW.CRASH-AERIEN.AERO
