Australia's air safety watchdog has launched an urgent investigation of Qantas safety practices.
Civil Aviation Safety Authority spokesman Peter Gibson said yesterday the decision was taken by the authority's chief executive, Bruce Byron, after talks with Qantas on Saturday.
The investigation is at the initiative of the authority and comes after three mid-air dramas for the airline in a little over a week:
On Saturday, a Qantas 767 jet made an emergency landing at Sydney Airport after a hydraulic fluid leak was discovered.
On July 25, another Qantas aircraft was forced to make an emergency landing at Manila after a mid-air explosion blasted a hole in the plane's fuselage
On Tuesday, a domestic flight was forced to return to Adelaide after a wheel bay door failed to close.
The special investigation is headed by the authority's deputy chief executive for operations, Mick Quinn, and will examine the full range of Qantas safety systems including operational procedures, maintenance and responses to incidents.
The authority said it had no evidence to suggest safety standards had fallen at Qantas.
Mr Gibson said, ''I wouldn't say we're concerned about Qantas's safety at all.
''In fact, we've found no evidence of safety slipping within the airline or safety standards being allowed to drop at all.''
Mr Gibson said the authority had been doing ''more surveillance than ever before'' and had found no significant safety problems with Qantas.
However, in the circumstances, an additional level of safety ''over and above the normal checks'' was considered necessary.
He denied the inquiry was a ''knee-jerk reaction'' to recent incidents.
''If things happen we need to be flexible and proactive and respond to those [events] and that's what we're doing,'' he said. ''We think it's prudent and wise to go in with a new special team and take an additional look at a range of operational issues within Qantas.''
He said the authority was not aware of any specific safety problems arising from Saturday's 767 incident.
He emphasised there was no reason for the public not to have confidence in Qantas.
''The Civil Aviation Safety Authority has been in there looking at their handling of recent incidents. We've been looking at their performance in general. We completed an audit [of the airline] in June ... and we've found no evidence of any problems or shortcomings.
''Clearly, there's been a number of incidents recently and it's important that we go in and double-check and make sure that all the standards are being maintained.''
In a separate development, the Flight Attendants Association, which represents Qantas cabin crew, has asked to meet company officials for a briefing on safety issues.
The authority's investigation team includes senior aviation engineers and safety systems, operations and maintenance experts.
The review will be take place over the next two weeks. It is understood that Qantas has undertaken to cooperate fully with the inquiry.
Mr Gibson said that any further action by the authority would depend on the outcome of the investigation, but the results would be made public. with AAP