Air disaster narrowly averted in China...

that dumbass chinese pilot should be fined and fired for ignoring a mayday. a mayday means emegerency and ALL other air traffic is supposed to either be in a holding pattern or stop on the ground until the all clear is given

he should never fly again

emergerency? lol

It's not a pilots job to second guess a MayDay call from another pilot. The local authorities can sort fact from fiction once everyone is on the ground. This chinese pilot should be operating a ricshaw in Hong Kong.

I refuse to accept that the Qantas aircraft had only 5 minutes left of fuel; the diversion from Shanghai only 30 miles away should have taken 3-5 minutes so when arriving over at the Shanghai terminal area it should have had at least one hour of fuel. Somebody is not telling the truth, we will get to know what really happened.

Well, I didn't know a pilot had a choice. I have been in several of those, on both ends, and if you are in the control zone then the tower is king. I'm kinda like Chalet, it just don't seem like the whole story is being told here.

Oklahoma Sen. Jim Inhoff flies for China? Who knew?

its qatar airways not qantas...

Reminds me of a saying about China Airlines- "You've seen us drive, now watch us fly"

Joan Napoles, indeed it was a typo. I sent a query to someone I know at Qatar Airways, let's see what comes out of it.

What ever happens, no matter where a MADYDAY is a MAYDAY, And heed to the ATC instructions, priorities are priorities, respect them!!>> what is so dificult about that. If that is what happend that Chinese's company pilot is one dangerous IDIOT. Thats if all the story is true and there are no other factors why the pilot did what he did.
One more thing on the other end 3-5min fuel left????? maybe so, but that also sounds not right, last I read they had little under an hour of fuel left?? Anyway this was a dagerous situation

If a Mayday is declared and found to be a purposely-false declaration, the most severe repercussions must be administered. Once a Mayday call is given, however, there should be no question or delay in giving way to the distressed aircraft. Sort it out afterwards.

Perhaps headwinds from the TRW caused excess fuel usage. He could have been held at multiple endings fixes (like going into ATL) during their TRW season. He could have had a fuel transfer failure. In short, a Mayday overrides any debate until the event is over.