Snakes on a Plane meets The Simpsons as airline creates ‘whacker’ to scare reptiles away from parked A380s
- Reference: 1622789886
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2021/06/04/qantas_wheel_whacker_a380/
- Source link:
Australia’s borders are currently all-but closed and QANTAS has ceased international flights other than government-run repatriation flights that bring citizens home from viral hotspots. The airline therefore parked its fleet of Airbus A380s at the Southern California Logistics Airport in Victorville, a location where low humidity makes for an ideal aircraft storage location.
QANTAS expects to fly its A380s again one day, so continues to maintain the craft.
[1]
Which is where the “wheel whackers” come in. As [2]explained in a post to the company blog, “highly venomous Mojave rattlesnakes and scorpions … are prone to setting up camp around the wheel wells and tyres of slumbering aircraft.”
[3]
[4]
Qantas manager for engineering in Los Angeles, Tim Heywood, said that he and his team frequently encounter snakes and scorpions when they visit the giant planes, as the creatures “love to curl up around the warm rubber tyres and in the aircraft wheels and brakes.”
[5]
A Qantas A380 wheel whacker. Click to enlarge
“The first thing we do before we unwrap and start any ground inspections of the landing gear in particular is to walk around the aircraft stomping our feet and tapping the wheels with a wheel whacker to wake up and scare off the snakes. That’s about making sure no harm comes to our engineers or the snakes.”
“Only then do we carefully approach each wheel and unwrap them before performing our pressure checks and visual inspections.”
[6]Singapore Airlines turns A380 into a restaurant, delivers plane food to homes
[7]Boeing confirms last 747 to roll off production line in 2022
[8]Airbus to build plane that's even uglier than the A380
Heywood said he and his team have spotted a few rattlers and stingers, “but the wheel whacker does its job, and they scuttle off.”
For readers who hoped the wheel whacker was a masterpiece of aerospace engineering and composed of exotic materials, we have bad news: the whackers are just broom handles. Each whacker is, however, labelled with the name of the A380 to which it is dedicated.
Reg hack survives world's longest commercial flight [9]READ MORE
QANTAS is not the only aerospace concern that has trouble with animals. Your correspondent came across these old Tweet regarding NASA’s issues with animals.
2/ Another time there was a gator in the irrigation ditch behind our building. The animal whisperer was standing waist-deep in the dark water, throwing a big hook into the water and dragging it up, trying to grab the gator. I never saw if he got it or not. I didn’t want his job. — Dr. Phil Metzger (@DrPhiltill) [10]March 27, 2020
And who could forget the [11]wasps that nearly crashed two planes in Brisbane, Australia? ®
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[1] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YLn5wGnxXzg4pfVSla1dggAAAFE&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[2] https://www.qantasnewsroom.com.au/roo-tales/snake-rattle-and-roll-where-a380s-share-accommodation-with-snakes-and-scorpions/
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YLn5wGnxXzg4pfVSla1dggAAAFE&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YLn5wGnxXzg4pfVSla1dggAAAFE&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://regmedia.co.uk/2021/06/04/handout_qantas_wheel_wacker_a380.jpg
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2020/09/30/a380_restaurant/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2021/01/13/final_747_shipment_2022/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2016/05/20/airbus_to_build_plane_thats_even_uglier_than_the_a380/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2015/07/04/reg_hack_survives_worlds_longest_commercial_flight/
[10] https://twitter.com/DrPhiltill/status/1243646625068789765?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2016/05/06/wasps_force_two_passenger_jets_into_emergency_landings/
[12] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Everything in Australia trys to kill you
... apparently this hold also true for everything Australian parked somewhere else around the globe
Best of order please
For the Wheel Tappers and S(nake)hunters
K.I.S.S.
For readers who hoped the wheel whacker was a masterpiece of aerospace engineering and composed of exotic materials, we have bad news: the whackers are just broom handles. Each whacker is, however, labelled with the name of the A380 to which it is dedicated.
You say this like it's a bad thing?
Why go for something highly technical, complicated and expensive when something simple and cheap will do the job just as well, or perhaps even better (or at least more reliably). The age-old K.I.S.S. principle in action...
Call that a snake?
People in tropical Australia often get pythons in their toilets.
That’s why it’s best to knock before entering.
Re: Call that a snake?
I can just imaging the snake shouting back "The toilet is engaged."
This is why people in Africa, when walking through the bush will hit the undergrowth with a stick - so that any venomous snakes will quietly slither away and not bite them. Australia and America are not the only places with deadly reptiles.
yeah but Africa just got hippo's and wild dogs
Australia has far more deadly animals and we dont go round hitting the bush we just walk to school and worry about magpies
Australia's thought of that
Death adders are ambush predators, and don't slither off when they sense the vibrations from beating the undergrowth. They will sit there quietly as you walk past. Unless you tread on them, when they will bite.
Presumably they'll only do this once a year though? (On their hallowed snake skull-cracking day.)
Reuse
Surely this is just a modern use for the famous Australian Bushwacker?