Thanks gents :)

Something tells me it is going to be hard to get anywhere near the airport on the day.

There will be road closures, but if you have just a bit of local knowledge, or know someone that does, then there are places you can go. Getting in early will be the key.

It'd be fun to be there, but I have to get through to Nowra that day. Won't be passing through until 10ish, so I may even take a punt that any snarls have cleared.

Otherwise, looks like my passengers might be going on a tour of Windang :)

With the upcoming 747 arrival, and the recent arrival of a Mirage fighter jet, HARS could well take over the whole airport soon (not a bad thing).

The arrival of the 747 is a great addition to the HARS collection . Many of my friends have indicated they will take their kids down there to see the 747 when it's open to the public , not having visited before , so it's a good thing ..

Dave C

Respect for Capt Massy-Greene

At Avalon yesterday, I was talking to the HARS person responsible for organising the arrival of VH-OJA into Illawarra Regional, and he said Qantas are only permitted to have two pilots on board, no other passengers (25 ton of fuel). The aircraft will pull up at the far end of the runway, shutdown, and then a tug will push it backwards along the runway and into the main apron area and its final resting place. The aircraft will then be de-fuelled.

The concrete work for the parking hard points has been completed. He also mentioned that the Mount Ousley road will be closed the night before from 7pm Saturday to 5am Sunday, so traffic going down for the arrival will be affected.

From last nights Ch7 news:

https://au.news.yahoo.com/video/watc...oos-to-retire/

http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/...ocus_illawarra

Qantas said the plane will leave from Sydney airport and fly south down the coast before turning west between Wollongong and Port Kembla and turn south at West Dapto before landing at Albion Park at 7:50am on Sunday March 8.

And to answer the question of the taxiways...

the taxi way isn't as good quality so we're putting some big plastic sheets under the wheels which spreads the load

One I found hard to believe:

Qantas would remove the cockpit voice recorder in case the pilots use some blue language on approach to the small regional Illawarra airport.