“Ladies and gentleman welcome to Coolangatta airport where the local time is 2:50pm. Blah Blah Blah thanks for flying Virgin AUSTRALIA.” It still sounds weird to hear people say this and even as I type it I wrote Virgin Blue! As we pulled into our gate I waited for the other people to disembark as I wanted a snap of the cockpit. But as I got there, there was no cabin crew to ask and no captain in the cockpit either! So I just took a picture..
I quickly left the terminal and found Brock waiting for me outside.. we hurried down to the spotting location near the RWY14 threshold where there were other spotters… Matt Coughran and Terry were happily snapping away as we arrived . we just got there in time! VH-YFC has just pushed back for the return flight to SYD..
Holiding short..
Lining up..
Other aircraft throughout the afternoon..
VH-VQV holding short of RWY14 as ‘Jetstar 417.’
Cessna 182P
'Powderfinger' livery lining up on RWY14 as ‘Jetstar 493’ down to NTL.
‘Jetstar 444' from MEL.
Well it was time to head back to the terminal for DJ540.. this flight was going to be awesome.. I’ve waited along time to get on board VH-VBY and finally after a year I get her! I arrived back in the terminal as she was flying the downwind leg on the inbound flight from Sydney. Time for a very quick dinner before the flight and probably a good idea to give the parents a call! I had just finished the last of my Burger when I saw the very, very elegant VBY rolling down RWY14!
After the pax of the arriving flight had disembarked, the usually boarding call came around and for the second time that day I was the first to board!
DJ540
DATE: 7th May 2011
AIRCRAFT: Boeing 737-7FE
REGISTRATION: VH-VBY
SECTOR: Gold Coast (OOL) – Sydney (SYD)
SEAT: 10F
Boarding pass.
I boarded the aircraft and took my seat.. and not long after that the doors were shut and pushback had started! On this flight I had just one guy sitting next to me but he chose the aisle seat and straight away closed his eyes and went to slept..
We taxied out to RWY14 and as I was sitting at the front of the plane I could record the take off as there would be light illuminating from the landing lights! We started to roll down the runway and just as we rotated the Camera died! BROCK LITTLE I AM NOT VERY HAPPY WITH YOU! (I had let Brock use my camera to spot as he was having trouble with his own)