Qantas hits PR turbulence

SYDNEY, July 29 (UPI) -- A Qantas aircraft had mechanical problems on its way to Brisbane, marking the third incident the Australian airline has experienced in just over three days.

The Boeing 737 flight from Sydney was towed from the runway after a hydraulics failure during a landing Sunday night landing, The (Melbourne) Courier-Mail reported Tuesday.

The newspaper reported an engineering source said a "large pipe -- a kind of artery" failed on the plane's primary hydraulics system.

A retired engineer blamed the accidents on too many "pencil inspections" being done on Qantas planes.

"It involves someone ticking off a document to say something has been done when it has not," he said.

On Friday, a Qantas jumbo jet made an emergency landing in Manila with a hole in its fuselage. Then, on Monday night, a Melbourne-bound Qantas plane had to return to Adelaide because the doors covering the nose wheel bay would not close properly after take-off.