VH-OJA to ALBION PARK - Discussion and Photo Thread
 

Sunday 8th March

Qantas will retire the VH-OJA - which flew non-stop from London to Sydney in 1989 - after almost 25 years of service and will gift it to the Historical Aviation Restoration Society (HARS) to preserve its place in aviation history.

Aircraft landing: 7.50am
Press conference: 8.30am

Illawarra Regional Airport (Albion Park, Rail, NSW)

Captain Greg Matthews, Senior Training Captain, 747
Captain Bob De La Hunty, President & Chief Pilot, HARS
Captain David Massy-Greene (the now retired Qantas Captain who operated the historic flight from London to Sydney in 1989)

The delivery schedule and timing is weather dependent and Albion Park Airport perimeter roads will be subject to closures on the day.

I assume the plan is a runway 16 landing, with closures at the Princes/Illawarra Hwy intersection and Tongarra Rd at the other end?

Does anyone know where it'll be parked? Having never been there, I'm guessing from a google map that the HARS facility is the one just northeast of the runways intersection? And that OJA will park along to the east of HARS?

The council website has the parking location in the council meetings section.

http://www.shellharbour.nsw.gov.au/f...ary2015web.pdf

Yes, that is HARS. An old pic on Google.

I assume that location won't impact future RPT possibilities (not that they seem likely...).

And does the cafe/restaurant still operate in the "terminal" building. I wonder if OJA will be a fillip for that lease?

Thanks Nigel & Kent. So looks to be going next to the 'terminal' apron then?

As an aside, what's the largest aircraft that can be parked on the 'terminal' apron? Could a Dash 8 still be parked there like when QF was operating to Wollongong?

Q300 is the largest aircraft that has provided an RPT service. The mockup in the application doesn't appear to provide a lot of clearance, but surely that has been considered.

The terminal building burnt down in May 2013 and hasn't been re-built as far as I know. I believe Council is holding onto the funds in case they do decide to re-develop it.

http://www.illawarramercury.com.au/s...own-in-flames/

Cheers Nigel. I haven't visited in a while and may have forgotten about the fire....

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.

The Ch7 video shows crew training including approach (I Think?)

The CVR doesn't need to be removed as it can be disabled by a breaker. Can anyone confirm ?

Qantas is holding a media briefing on the behind the scenes preparations regarding the flight of VH-OJA by Captain Mike Galvin, Head of Flying Operations, Qantas Airlines and Captain Greg Matthews, Captain in Command for the flight next Thursday 5 March at 11:00am. I managed to score myself an invite as during last week Qantas, via twitter, gave away 10 passes to the public to attend. I think they all went in about 5 minutes! Not sure how much of a run the briefing will get in the mainstream media but I will certainly try and report back after the event. Really looking forward to it. In the meantime I am trying to replicate the flight myself in Flight Sim with mixed results!

http://www.shellharbour.nsw.gov.au/d...x?WebPage=1766

Shellharbour Council briefing on road closures and where the public will be restricted from viewing the landing (Tongarra Road)

For those who are considering going to YWOL for the arrival, be advised that there are going to restrictions on where the public will be able to view the event from fencelines. The Illawarra Highway/Princes Highway intersection at the northern end will apparently be off limits, as will the Haywards Bay bridge near the Shell/Hungry Jacks and Tongarra Road at the southern end of Rwy 16/34.

One of the best viewing areas for seeing the arrival will most likely be the BMX track off Croom Road. I'd suggest getting there early as parking may be fairly limited and I'd expect a large crowd.

From the BMX track, the view to the north looks like this on a Canon EOS 7D (1.6X crop factor)...

100mm lens...
http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x...psuwxdqsc5.jpg

200mm lens...
http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x...psk4oqimhb.jpg

400mm lens...
http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x...psvkv7xtjk.jpg


Looking at these images, I hope the Council gives the runway markings a lick of paint before Sunday!!!

Thanks for all the updates Nigel!

Quick check on BoM website shows 19-26 degrees, mostly sunny, 20% chance of a shower and light winds becoming NNE 15-20kph during the day.

So there's no possibility of getting on the western side of the airport anywhere Nige?? I know the eastern side will be a bust.

Not sure Stephen. There's been no mention of Croome Lane being closed as yet, and from the landscape business there that backs on to the airport the view might be pretty good, although you'll be facing the sun.

From where the shots above were taken, the sun will be to the right and slightly behind you on the morning of the 8th, so the nose should be bathed in good light and at that time of day there'll hopefully be little to no heat haze.

Here's how the sunrise will look relative to the runway. By 0750 it should have moved approximately 6-7 degrees further north, so still be at ~90 degrees to the runway alignment.
http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x...ps9onzky7j.jpg

From Croome Lane and the landscaping supply place, here's the relative position of the sun at sunrise. Again, allow for approx 6-7 degrees to the north for the suns position at 0750.

http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x...psyajhdhhr.jpg

The airspace restrictions have been announced, and this includes an 8Nm radius around YWOL, SFC-4500 feet! This doesn't look good for the local airport operators who may have benefited from the arrival.

Geeez they are making it hard. Over blown over zealous over protective.

The CVR's are removed on all retired aircraft. Not related to blue language.

thks Fred,

I would of expected that.

The may contain some proprietary & confidential (Intellectual property) info that could be used by QF competitors.

Does the airspace restriction include the News choppers ?

At this stage I'm unaware of what news choppers will be operating there.

CASA has declared a temporary restricted airspace for OJA's arrival, along with road closures including the Illawarra and Princes Highway during the actual arrival.

There is also a Drone Warning.

Australian Aviation Information

Well my planned trip is off, no way I can get accommodation in the Gong and the train from Sydney would arrive too late (assuming OJA is on time). Looks like viewing areas will be limited.

Edit: there is one train that is scheduled to arrive just before 7am but my fear is that there will be zero chance getting near the ap.

It's not at all, speaking to head of flight ops and he Doesn't want his guys distracted at all they have a job to do and safely, in the end that's all that matters that it remains that and negates any risk if any.

Choppers operate between the runways here for photo ops on a semi-regular basis. Admittedly they are under ATC control, but I believe if there was a proper consultation and briefing between selected parties allowed and Qantas flying ops, that they could also facilitate limited chopper activity for the arrival. It's an historic event and in my opinion should be documented properly from a number of perspectives.

I'd be more concerned with the potential for Christmas present drones being flown by people who don't know the rules...

It looks like the best place to see it will be when it leaves Sydney.....It does seem as though there is a bit over zealousness on the part of Authorities. It is an event, if you don't want people turning up to it, don't advertise it.

Nigel there was, and it had been going on for the last 5 months but it's still their call. I'm with you we tried to do all we could but once again it's there call, and yes those heli ops done at Sydney have been going for a while now but in the beginning I know there was a lot of trepidation from ATC regards those chopper flights and it's taken A long time for operators work up to be able to get the access they have to the airspace today.

Ch7,Ch9 & ABC all have morning news shows on Sunday morning.

I will be surprised if Ch7 and/or Ch9 don't show live pictures of the arrival.

If it is a quite day for news it might be an extended coverage.