Qantas diversions?

Shock Horror! Three flights involved in unplanned diversions in one day! The underlying inference in such media reports is that perhaps the passengers involved have been inconvenienced simply because of some systemic laxity in the airlines' maintenance standards. Hogwash!

These machines are comprised of thousands of electronic and mechanical parts which can, by their very nature, malfunction due to any number of various causes from changeable weather conditions to normal vibration via faulty manufacture or natural useful lifespan. Ever had a brand new household utensil or light globe 'fail' shortly after initial installation? Annoying... but, not life threatening in the overwhelming majority of cases. Well. the same can happen in a complex system like a modern airliner, except that the potential for minor failures is a thousand-fold greater than your household equipment. Yet, airliners have extraordinary built-in provision for redundancy of system components not typical of your average house. Despite that fact, safety conscious airlines routinely divert to the nearest landing place in the face of really minor component failures, because 'taking a punt' on any component failure not being the signal of a possibly worse malfunction is not an option. Being safe rather than 'sure' IS the only option!

And, thank your stars that is SO!