Storms, Dust & Gust in Sydney (Sep 22-23, 27)

[Anthony J]

From when I arrived at about 1400 it was single runway ops for all except Qantas 73, Singapore 222 and both Uniteds.

Everyone else used 25, including Etihad!

[Grahame Hutchison]

2125
DJ889 VH-VBZ holding between TARAL and Goulburn at FL210
DJ437 VH-VUC holding between TARAL and Goulburn at FL220
QF774 VH-VYC holding south of Crookwell at FL288
JQ748 VH-VQV holding south of Crookwell at FL263

2127
DJ889 is heading in via TARAL and RIVET
DJ437 is heading in via TARAL and RIVET

2133
TT532 VH-VNC holding south of Crookwell AT FL290
JQ748 is heading in via TARAL and RIVET

2136
QF774 is heading in via RIVET
JQ626 VH-VQA holding south of Crookwell At FL290
QF492 VH-VYH holding south of Crookwell At FL314

2145
TT532 is heading in via TARAL and RIVET at FL210
JQ626 is heading in via TARAL and RIVET at FL239
QF566 VH-OJS B747 holding south of Crookwell at FL 300

2156
QF492 is heading in via TARAL and RIVET at FL250
QF566 is heading in via TARAL and RIVET at FL248

[Stephen Harris]

Very interesting Ethiad take off today. Seems to really swing from side to side. Wouldn't have liked to be on board.

QF A380 was a beautiful site and was up very quickly.

[Gerard M]

My flight from Brisbane to Sydney was delayed about and hour and a half. Arrived into Sydney at 11pm after about 20-25 mins holding north of Sydney and landing on 25. Pilot informed us that single runway ops causing delays etc and also a disabled or something aircraft don't know if it was on the runway does anyone know?

[Justin L]

My flight from Melbourne to Sydney last night (27 Sep) was also delayed by about 1 hour 45 minutes for the same reason - single runway ops due to heavy winds. We had to hold and circle for 20-25 minutes just before descent also.

When I arrived in Sydney, all the departure/arrival boards were showing similar delays for a number of flights.

[Mike W]

Originally Posted by chris d

Same explanation to us, except for the U/S aircraft on the runway. I imagine that would have been the Jetstar?

I don't know about the later flights but there was a fiasco earlier in the day (Saturday) with a JQ 330 (JQ19 I think) that had brake issues.

It taxied to Tango 6 holding point and had to be towed back to gate 4 (I think) for a couple of hours to fix (the pax stayed on board) and then back to Tango 6 again for departure. It then broke down again briefly but inpinging on 34L so China Southern had to go around and for sure some other craft were inconvenienced as well.

It was a farce really. What's the go with these 330's? Is it just me or do these things have reliability issues?

[Adam.S]

Originally Posted by Mike W

What's the go with these 330's? Is it just me or do these things have reliability issues?

Where do they receive the majority of their maintenance, in Australia or overseas?

[Gerard M]

Thanks Mike for the info. From what i heard (was trying to watch ncis!!) it sounded like he was delayed departing sydney initially from the single rwy ops and also an issue with a jq flight at the same time, hence late into brisbane and back to sydney.
I was expecting a very bumpy ride back down into sydney but it was surprisingly a lot smoother than everyone made out. That and the landing was very nicely done!

[Andrew P]

bummer - CX111 has gone to BNE because of winds

so my flight to HK is delayed (no departure time yet) and onward connection to MNL

[Brandon Giacomin]

BA15 also diverted but they have both left BNE now and have arrived in SYD.

BA15 LHR-SIN-SYD G-YMMP arr BNE 0525 dep BNE 0713
CX111 HKG-SYD B-LAE arr BNE 0557 dep BNE 0648