Some news from Brisbane, Aus.

[TimD]

Hey all,

Here is some recent movements from my home port of BNE, I hope you find this interesting.

28 Dec - A6-HRM United Arab Emirates - Dubai Air Wing. Ex United Airlines N108UA. This brought the ruler of Dubai/Deputy President of the UAE as his hobby is horse racing. He was here for the "Magic Millions" sales. U=You may have seen photos of his horse a/c - 742F A6-GDP flying around. A6-HRM was planned to stay here for two weeks but unfortunately he passed away from a heart attack while staying on the Gold Coast. To conform to Islamic Law, the body must return as soon as possible. Thus his plane was given priority over other traffic in terms of refuelling, catering etc. It departed at 2330 on 4 Jan.
Photos - http://movements.tjdwyer.com/images/...HRM/A6-HRM.htm.
Sorry for the backlighting, I planned on returning later on in the week to do dusk/night shots and also didn't factor in the plane leaving early. :oops:

30 Dec - VH-OEJ "Wunala Dreaming" operated QF175/176. This is only the third time OEJ has been to Brisbane. The other two times being a charter bringing Indy Car Drivers to the Gold Coast Indy, the second being a diversion due to fog in Sydney. It is very rare to get an 744ER into Brisbane, as a normal non-ER version can do the BNE-LAX run whereas non-ER versions don't have the range to do SYD-LAX or MEL-LAX.
These are for Futterman
http://movements.tjdwyer.com/images/...OEJ/VH-OEJ.htm

3 Dec There have been three Japan Airlines charters which have routed through Alice Springs (Uluru).
Tuesday 3 January. - Ops by JA8909
JL8864 - ASP - Arr 11:05
JL8864 - KIX - Dep 13:00

Friday 6 January. - Ops also by JA8909
JL8862 - ASP - Arr 11:05
JL8862 - NRT - Dep 13:00

Tuesday 31 January.
JL8867 - SPK - Arr 06:15
JL8868 - HIJ - Dep 09:20

11 Jan - Qantas' first DHC-8-402 VH-QOA arrived in Brisbane at approx. 1450. Qantas operates -100, -200 and -300 series also. The -400 gives much more flexibility and extra seating to Queensland's regional centers.
- Brisbane and Rockhampton – increasing seats by 16 per cent;
- Brisbane and Gladstone – increasing seats by 22 per cent;
- Brisbane and Emerald – increasing seats by 37 per cent;
- Rockhampton and Mackay – increasing seats by 24 per cent;
- Mackay and Townsville – increasing seats by 26 per cent; and
- Townsville and Cairns – increasing seats by 21 per cent.
Press release - http://www.qantas.com.au/regions/dyn...06/jan06/Q3379

Thanks,

Tim D from BNE

[jakbar]

Tim, thanks for all the news. Having just been in Australia myself, it's nice to hear about all these things.

Beautiful pics of Wunala. I'm sure Brian is drooling all over himself. :)

Josh

[Futterman]

Fascinating stuff, Tim. Didn't know Link was getting -400s...what's going on with the dwindling number of BAe146s?

Beautiful shots of Wunala, too! Pretty cool knowing that I saw the exact same thing almost five months ago in New York and now it's in Brisbane, Australia. :)

*Enter Bounty*

Brian

[TimD]

Hey Brian,

I'm not 100% sure about the BAe-146s but this is what I believe is happening. The BAe-146s are operated by National Jet System(NJS). It is a charter company which operates 146's on behalf of QFLink... which fly particualarly Western Australia, Nothern Territory and North Queensland. They also operate 146's and 727's on behalf of Australian Air Express. These freighters are very rarely photographed as they are night flyers.
Check their website out - http://www.nationaljet.com.au/wet_lease.html.

As Jetstar slowly builds up their fleet of A320s, the 717s are being sent to NJS which in turn is replacing the 146s. NJS also operates a sole Avro RJ70 and some DHC-8s. http://www.aeroclub.com.au/queryac.p...it1=Search&id=

Here is a list of BAe-146s in Australia.
http://www.aeroclub.com.au/queryac.p...1=Search&id=48
You can see some that are ex-Ansett still yet to be sold. There is talk of Australia's latest carrier Oz-Jet taking these over and operating them into secondary airports. I am aware of one that has been sent to England for an overhaul with European Air Charter. EAC is owned by Paul Stoddart, the founder and brains behind Oz Jet.

I hope that answers your question and isn't too confusing :D

[mirrodie]

about the BAe-146s but this is what I believe is happening. The BAe-146s are operated by National Jet System(NJS). It is a charter company which operates 146's on behalf of QFLink

Great to hear. ON our last visit to Australia, we were fortunate to jumpseat on aproach and arrival into CNS from Uluru(AYQ, right?)

on QF 1922 IIRC. Anyway, it was a dream to fly on the plane at all and was comlete gravy to be able to sit in the cockpit and stay through the engine shutdown procedures at CNS

Hey Tim, welcome again. we're planning a second trip to Oz, we desparately wanted to go to Brisbane again and see the Tigers at Dreamworld but not likely this time.


Tim, a question for you, if and when you fly, what carriers do you choose in Australia?[/i]

[TimD]

Hi Mirrodie,

A jumpseat approach into AYQ would be awesome!!

Tim, a question for you, if and when you fly, what carriers do you choose in Australia?

Depends on where I am flying to - if it is to a capital city, usually whoever is cheaper (out of Virgin or Qantas). My grandparents live in Hervey Bay, a four hour car ride north of BNE, however occasionally we fly - and the only way is with Sunshine Express (CQ). They used to use Shorts 360s, however the last one has been retired and this route is now served with Metros. (One of their 360's has been converted to a freighter and will be sent to Denmark as 3C-SEO (However, 3C- is the prefix for Equitorial Guniea :?).
Photos - Before/After. Sorry, before shot is 240kB.

Unfortunately no flights planned over the next year :( .
Tim[/img]

[TimD]

Hi everyone,

Here’s another update from Brisbane International! It has been a while, busy with final year of school but I managed to see the F-14s at FRG topic which had some excellent photos.

We had our annual spotter’s meet last Sunday (9/7) with a good turn out. Jetspotter.com’s admin Scotty C was able to organize an airside bus tour for all the spotters. Please feel free to look at the pics of the meet taken by everyonehere.

The weather was very nice... clear skies, not too cold. I headed over to the spotter's area to get some silhouettes. This is my fav.

Eventually we all hopped in the bus and headed to the threshold of rwy 19. Not only was it my first time seeing Australian Airlines, but my first time airside with my DSLR. (Bus tours used to operate often, but were closed down after 9/11 so this trip was very special!)




After a while we headed down to the rotate point and snapped some pics there. My pics didn't turn out all that well, so when I get around to editing some I will post them. However I did get this shot of the International Terminal which was pretty full at the time. To the left of the pic not shown is a QF744 which was parked in the standoff bay.
Here you can see from far end of terminal to closest:
Qantas 763, China A340, Australian 763, Singapore 772, JAL 742, Air New Zealand A320, Emirates 773, Air New Zealand A320, JALWays Reso'cha 742, Korean A333 and another Air New Zealand A320.

Currently there is work being done to extend the International Terminal to the South (direction the pic was taken in).

After spending an hour or so at the rotation point, we got to do a tour of the maintenance hangars on the eastern side of the runway.
A rare sight - Australian Air Express BAe-146 Freighter.

Some RAAF Caribou in maintenance.

Ex-USAir VH-FKG

QFLink's latest Q400 - VH-QOE

Eventually we headed back to the spotter's area for a BBQ and catch up.
No interesting movements except for two Singapore Flying College Lear 45's from Maroochydore and Heavylift's Shorts SC.5 Belfast 9L-LDQ.
.
I believe the Belfast was taking a McDermott Aviation Bell 214B-1 N49732 (reg'd to Texan Aviation Intl.) back to wherever it came from. It was here for the bushfire season I think.

All in all a great day and I'm sure everyone looks forward to next year.
On a side note, Boeing have purchased a hangar at Brisbane Airport for the use of Wedgetail (you know, those funny looking 737AEW things) maintenance. So hopefully some good photo ops in the future!

Thanks for reading, and I'm happy to answer any questions you have. :D
Cheers,
Tim D from BNE