Trip Report: Syd-Per-Syd with lots of pics and videos

[Russell D]

Flight: QF565
Date: 08/11/2011
Aircraft type: Boeing 767-336ER “Bourke”
Aircraft Registration: VH-ZXB
Sector/Route: Sydney (YSSY) to Perth (YPPH)
Seat: 47K
Passenger Load: 20-25% Full
ETD (gate Sydney local time): 0610
ATD (gate Sydney local time): 0616

After an incredibly early start (3AM wakeup) following just 4 hours sleep the night before, I made it to Sydney Domestic Airport around 5AM-ish. It was still dark outside, and the usual crowds were probably still tucked up in bed.

I proceeded to check-in for my first time using the new electronic check-in and baggage drop technology system. Gone were all the check-in desks, replaced by slender ultra-modern kiosks that looked like stand-alone ATM machines. I must say I was very impressed by how much space is now available inside the terminal. Whilst booking my tickets online, Qantas had informed me by email that Sydney and Perth airports were the first to implement the self-serve check-in, with Melbourne, Adelaide and Brisbane to follow soon.

I’m not much the tech savvy type who has to always get the latest iPhone, so I asked for a little help just to get familiar with the intricate workings of the new system of check-in. Qantas had about 5 friendly check-in customer service staff on hand assisting passengers to check in, one of which kindly showed me how to go through the process of checking in. I had already checked-in and selected my seats online the day before, so I only really needed to scan my already printed boarding pass and drop of my baggage.

Since my trip was only for three nights, I was travelling light, and the process was very efficient thanks to the helpful Qantas staff-member.

Once I had dropped off my bags, I then proceeded to through security to try and see if I could get a little spotting done before heading for my gate. Unfortunately as I had mentioned earlier, it was still dark outside, and my digital camera wasn’t having too much fun compensating for the poor light. So instead, I waited outside my gate and resolved myself to watching the ground-crews attend my plane.

Boarding was scheduled to commence at 0550 local time, and sure enough on the dot, the initial call for boarding came, and wasting no time, I made a direct bee-line to the QF boarding staff and then made my way down the aerobridge.

Boarding was very quick since the passenger load was very light. However we were 6 minutes late to push back due to bags still being loaded and the morning QF flight to Melbourne pushing back before us.

While in my seat, I noticed the sky was getting brighter, so I whipped out my camera and tried to make do with a few shots before push back and during taxi...


VH-VYB parked next to my plane, with VH-TJY behind it ready to push.


VH-TJY ready to depart for Melbourne with a Qantas 744 (couldn’t get the rego) parked at the overnight stand.


A Qantas A330 inbound from Perth on the red-eye flight seen landing on RWY16R with VH-VYB parked next to my plane as we just begin to push.


Although I couldn’t quite tell, I believe this was the Captain of VH-VYB conducting his pre-flight checks.


VH-ZXA departing for Brisbane as we commence push-back.

We taxied via C to the 16R threshold, and after a brief wait for a VB 737 to depart, we were rolling. I had endeavoured to video the entire takeoff, but my camera sadly went into standby mode just as we lined up and commenced the take-off roll. As a result, I only got the second half of the take-off just after rotation. My apologies to all those spotters who love to hear the engines spool up.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yC6c1nI16c
RWY16R take-off onboard VH-ZXB bound for Perth. P.S. I really need to work on my commentary. So instead, I added some annotations and captions before uploading onto youtube.

There were some interesting cloud formations, which looked a little ominous to the south of Sydney. Soon we punched through the clouds just passed Kurnell, and were greeted with a beautiful sunrise which made the early 3AM wake-up all worth it.

Some more pics of the sunrise...






I think these might be the Lithgow power stations chimney stacks, but I’m not 100% sure since there was no in-flight flight progress map of our track.

Around an hour into the flight, the cabin crew came round with breakfast. There was a choice of the Continental breakfast (cereal) or the more appealing Egg, Sausage, and Bacon. I unsurprisingly chose the latter, and as far as I could tell, so did all the other passengers. Vegetarians like my mum in the seat behind me got some other oriental rice meal, but I was too busy eating myself to bother to turn around and snap any pics.


Sausage, egg, hash-brown underneath, spinach, baked beans, and bacon chunks along with complimentary orange juice, apricot embedded bread roll, and yoghurt.

The meal was absolutely delicious and very well presented. The crew soon came round with tea/coffee, but were also happy to offer hot chocolate to anyone who wanted it. Being a hot chocolate geek, I naturally took up the offer and was treated to one of the best hot chocolates I’ve had in a long time. It was very strong, just the way I liked it, and it didn’t take long for the sugar to go straight to my head. Bingo, I was wide awake at last.

The in flight entertainment system was unable to play the daily morning Channel 9 News, so instead, they immediately went straight to the movies. First up they featured Morning Glory, followed by Unstoppable.

During the interval between the two, I asked introduced myself to one of the flight attendants in the back galley and asked whether it was possible to visit the flight-deck. You see, an ex-QF flight attendant at my uni recently told me that if you present you ASIC and your pilot licence, they may let you in even during cruise. I had my doubts from the beginning but thought it was worth a shot. Unfortunately, the flight attendant explained this was not possible, however, she suggested I try after landing.

Around 1030 Sydney time, we reached our top of descent, and I snapped a couple of pics of the last moments of our flight in cruise.





Endless fields as we descend towards Perth inbound from the East. Plenty to choose from if I ever had an engine failure in my Cessna or Warrior.

We entered an extended right base for RWY03 at Perth, and I managed to video the whole landing right up to taxiing for parking. P.S. horrendous commentary again...still needs a LOT of work. Oh and also ignore my callouts of altitude during final approach; I was trying to judge distance only using the video display on my camera. I later dubbed a bit of commentary over the top of the original audio, so while watching, ignore what I say during the original audio.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dUH1jK55Yo
Landing at Perth RWY03. Note all the little micro vortex generators on the leading edge of the flaps (I was excited to see them after my aerodynamics PPL theory study)