Aussie Flyer

I've reviewed this flight so many times before so here is a quick rundown and mostly pictorial report of my most recent trip on flight TG465, on board a Thai Boeing 777-200ER. This flight leaves Bangkok at 00.05 AM every night, arriving into Melbourne at  1.05pm, scheduled 9 hours. This flight offers a late night supper (basically a complete dinner service) and full breakfast before landing. It was my last flight on my series of flights around Asia late last year. After freshening up with a shower in the lounge and complimentary 30 minute foot massage in the Thai Airways spa it was off to get C5 for the secondary screening Australia bound flights are subjected to. Secondary bag check

Following up from my recent post about the pre flight briefing for this flight, here is how I experienced it on the day. On Sunday 5 March after staying the night in a local motel my fellow #avgeek friend and I headed over to the local BMX skate park parking area just south of the airport. From this slightly elevated location we had a good view down the runway and would be able to see the aircraft approach as it headed towards us. The aircraft was due in at 7.47am and after a pit stop at McDonald's for breakfast we arrived at about 6.20am, and there was already more than 100 people at this viewing spot, with thousands of others gathering at other locations closer to the runway and on the other side of the airport.

Back in August 1989 Qantas took delivery of it's first Boeing 747-400, 'VH-OJA'. It was to be the first of 31  of the -400 series jumbo jets that Qantas would operate. But this was no ordinary delivery flight, it was a world record attempt, the first flight ever to fly London to Sydney non stop, and the longest ever flight on record. A record that still stands today. Now, 25 years later and after 13833 career flights, VH-OJA ' City of Canberra ' is making it's final journey, and probably the shortest flight it has ever made  too. Sydney to Illawarra Regional Airport (Wollongong), where it will be put on permanent display at HARS. It's all happening this Sunday the 8th of March and I'm going to head down there to see it. Some memorabilia from that day in 1989