Whilst down there, Jayden, Tim, Benny and Damien (from Shep's Mound), as well as some other spotters arrived throughout the afternoon for some spotting! After watching QF31 depart for Singapore and onwards to London, we headed back to the airport and caught the silouette of BA10 departing to Bangkok from The Bridge.
DJ539
DATE: 25th June, 2011
AIRCRAFT: Embraer ERJ-170-100LR
REGISTRATION: VH-ZHF "
Little Miss Sunshine Coast"
SECTOR: Sydney (SYD) - Gold Coast (OOL)
SEAT: 16F
ETD/ATD (Gate, Local): 1810/1815
ETA/ATA (Gate, Local): 1930/1930
We headed back to the terminal, and made it smoothly through security and onwards to McDonalds for a much needed milkshake...which I wasn't able to get at General Holmes Drive since the machine was BROKEN! :twisted:
Anyway, we sat at the table facing the apron, watching all the Virgin jets come and go. Soon enough, information concerning my flight was heard over the PA...but it wasn't a boarding call. It was a gate change. This was fair enough, and five minutes later we decided to head on over to my new gate, gate 32. So we looked at the window to see what new E190 I would be getting...
I had been granted a gift and was given an E170 for my flight home!!! ZHF was waiting at my gate, looking to be getting prepped for a quick departure. It was meant to operate a CBR flight, so it seems that they had switched the aircraft around as our load was light whereas the CBR flight's load was pretty full and possibly oversold. Unintentionally, I had booked a flight that would get me on an aircraft that would soon be retired out of the Virgin Australia fleet!
The other passengers had no idea of the wonderful thing that had just occurred! Ten minutes later, a boarding call was made after a few pages for different passengers. Boarding was efficient and quick, and I said goodbye and a final thanks to Andrew for a great day! Walking down the aerobridge, I went downstairs as I had to board from the rear, but they had no rear stairs on the aircraft and I, along with a few other passengers, were told to walk back up and board from the front. I sat down in 16F and the man next to me moved to the empty row in front once everyone had boarded the aircraft!
First impressions of the aircraft were really great. The seats were the most comfortable I had ever been on, as well as the legroom which was definitely substantial on this flight. After a slight boarding delay, we were pushed back and were soon taxiing out to runway 16L, with YFE in front of us. I filmed the takeoff but the file was WAY too big to be uploaded to YouTube, so sorry.
A smooth takeoff followed and we were well on our way to the Gold Coast. A beautiful smell wafted through the cabin during our initial climb, but I didn't ask what it was and just read my book all through the climb, cruise, and descent. I could not see anything out of the window as it was pitch black, but once we were on base for runway 14 I saw the lights of Surfers Paradise. We were given a more northerly approach, which seemed unusual, but this may have been due to some arriving or departing traffic. So I saw all the lights of the Gold Coast, and tried to film the approach and landing but my camera battery died, as well as my SD Card running out of memory.
Before I knew it, we had flown over my house and had made a smooth landing on runway 14. After a quick taxi to the gate, I disembarked the aircraft and was back on the familar OOL apron. I said my final farewell to ZHF, as this would probably be the last time I would ever fly a Virgin Australia E170. I called Dad and he drove down to pick me up after a very tiring day!
Conclusion
I had yet another great time in Sydney. This time was definitely better than the last, probably helped by the fact that I met some new people as well as spotting with my new and better camera, flying Virgin Australia and getting an E170 on the flight home! I'd just like to thank Damien, Andrew and the guy from Cairns again for making this day very memorable! I wouldn't hesistate to book another daytrip down there...this time on QF8!
Thanks for reading my trip report, and I apologise for the lack of photos inflight as I wasn't planning on making a trip report out of this daytrip, but I hoped you enjoyed the spotting photos all the same!