Qantas A380 -First Flight to MEL 25/9/08

flyingdoc · 09-25-2008, 12:28 AM

Well - can't be letting Dan have ALL the fun. VH-OQA, "Nancy Bird-Walton", the first of QF's A380's arrived in Melbourne today to a beautiful sunny morning. It was worth the early start to watch her arrive and then depart again. She is so massive that it is easy to spot her many miles out from the airport. Compared to the earlier traffic, she was very quiet too - at least until the airbrakes went on.

One thing I noticed is that the titles are painted "Nancy-Bird Walton". It looks like Qantas have stuffed it up!!! The Aviatrix that the plane is named after is Nancy Bird-Walton. I know that Wahoo and Kevin will lament with me the trouble that people have with the apostrophe seems to have spread to the hyphen!

In addition to the Super Jumbo, we were treated to some other great planes as well - including Virgin Blues 50th in her blue livery and the Air China A330 in her special colours. Hope you enjoy!

First glimpse from several miles out, to the east and coming round in a gentle sweep towards the glide path for 34R.

Here she is seen passing behind an ANZ A320 (ZK-OJG) as she lands.

On Finals...

She is so big, it is hard to fit her all into one shot with a minimum focal length 70mm!

A couple of details...

And then she was inside the perimeter fence...

flyingdoc · 09-25-2008, 12:46 AM

We got to see her take off too, but the sun was right behind her which made it hard to get any decent shots (AND they are all taken through the perimeter fence which is tricky because she is so immense!)

And then she was gone again...

Even so, during the wait for her there were a few other nice planes arriving including the odd gem.

Malaysian B772 9M-MRL

Virgin Blue B738 VH-VOB "Matilda Blue"

Qantas B734 VH-TJI "Cloncurry"

cc2506 · 09-25-2008, 01:05 AM

Wonderful photos Doc, looks like a great day to be out there. I hope it is as nice when she gets here on saturday. Good job mate, pity about the naming mistake hey.

flyingdoc · 09-25-2008, 01:09 AM

It was a brilliant day to catch Virgin Blue's B737-700 VH-VBY resplendent in her sky blue livery!

And there was the usual mix of regionals...

QF B734 VH-TJZ "Port Pirie"

... and almost-regionals , A320 ZK-OJE

As well as a couple of Qantas heavies...

Firstly B743 VH-EBW "City of Tamworth" with the beautiful glint of sunlight reflecting from her polished Rolls-Royce engines - a dead giveaway a mile out!

And later on, her big sister B747-438ER VH-OEI "Ceduna"

flyingdoc · 09-25-2008, 01:15 AM

AND FINALLY...

A special treat today - China Airlines A332, B-6076, in the 7th day of her her special livery!

It was a great day out and I got to spend it with my 2 youngest children who woke me up at 3am, because they were so excited to go and see the A380 make her historic first visit to Melbourne..... NOT!!!!

Abraxas · 09-25-2008, 05:13 AM

Doc - EXCELLENT Photos! Glad the weather in Melbourne stayed on its best behaviour for you guys.

With Nancy-Bird Walton vs Nancy Bird-Walton, I read somewhere that Nancy actually now goes by Nancy-Bird as that is what her husband used to call her. Not sure of the truth, but I think Qantas would have liaised with Nancy-Bird about this?

...and you got to see the special livery Air China?! How awesome is that?!?!?!?!

Dan

flyingdoc · 09-25-2008, 07:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Abraxas

With Nancy-Bird Walton vs Nancy Bird-Walton, I read somewhere that Nancy actually now goes by Nancy-Bird as that is what her husband used to call her. Not sure of the truth, but I think Qantas would have liaised with Nancy-Bird about this?

Regardless of how she prefers to be called by her intimates, Dame Nancy's name is Nancy Bird-Walton.

If one wishes to recognise somebody by naming an aircraft in their honour, they would do well to spell the name correctly.

(see if you can find an official mention of Nancy-Bird Walton somewhere!)

... and yes, it was a great day out - the China Airlines visit was the icing on the cake!

Abraxas · 09-25-2008, 08:55 AM

You're right Doc, there's only brief mention of it on this page of the YSSY Forum, with no backup material to prove it's true or not: QF A380 - YSSY Arrival Info - Sun 21 Sep - Page 7 - Sydney Airport Message Board

No official documentation with the new hyphenage...

The GJ model is reflective of the real bird though by name?

Dan

Captain Wahoo · 09-25-2008, 06:37 PM

Great pics Doc, it's always nice to see airlines from other third world countries!