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Old 23rd April 2011, 10:07 PM
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Default TRIP REPORT - Testing out the Tiger: OOL-SYD-OOL with JQ/TT



Introduction

Well, after quite a busy start to Year 11, I decided that I really needed a break on the Easter holidays. My friend down in Sydney (Andrew Coggan) persuaded me to convince Mum and Dad to let me go down to Sydney for the day – my first spotting daytrip. I have flown by myself before, so I knew that wouldn’t be an issue. Tiger Airways also had a sale on – OOL-SYD and SYD-OOL flights were $29.95 each way – quite a bargain! Due to timings, the SYD-OOL leg was only possible, as the only daily TT flight to Sydney from the Gold Coast left in the late afternoon. After telling my parents that I wanted to give Tiger Airways a go, they eventually agreed to let me fly with the infamous airline. After all, I have read trip reports that tell me that Tiger Airways is a pleasant experience! After booking the afternoon Tiger flight back to the Gold Coast from Sydney, I had to book myself a flight with another carrier to get down to Sydney in the morning. Initially, I was considering going on Tiger Airways from Brisbane, to get that cheap sale fare (BNE-SYD and SYD-BNE were also $29.95), but it turned out to be too much of a hassle with the train up there and all. So I resorted to booking myself a flight with Jetstar at $69, leaving at 0610 in the morning. So an early wakeup was needed! Once finally booked and confirmed, the two flights (JQ401 and TT8762) costed me $123. Doubt did come across my mind once or twice about the TT flight, but that was all but diminished by my bursting excitement of the thought of spending a day spotting in Sydney! Before I knew it, it was April!

Welcome to my 2nd trip report! This will detail my fun spotting daytrip down to Sydney on JQ401 (OOL-SYD) and TT8762 (SYD-OOL). The route between OOL and SYD is very competitive, and has been for many years. Currently, Tiger Airways, Jetstar, and Virgin Blue operate on the route. They collectively operate over 20 daily services between the two ports, on the 4th busiest air route in Australia. Without further ado, read on to find out more about my little escape over the Easter holidays!

JQ401
DATE: 19th April, 2011
AIRCRAFT: Airbus A320-232
REGISTRATION: VH-VQN
SECTOR: Gold Coast (OOL) – Sydney (SYD)
SEAT: 19A
ETD/ATD (Gate, Local) 0610/0610
ETA/ATA (Gate, Local) 0740/0728

Checking in online for this flight was not a hassle at all – I didn’t even have to do anything as my boarding pass was automatically sent to my email!


My boarding pass.

The night before my departure, I was informed by Andrew that there may be some fog in Sydney in the early morning, which may cause a delay to my flight. I also found out that Matt Coughran would be on my flight as well, which was quite a random coincidence!

So I wake up in the morning feelin’ like P Diddy...kidding, I wake up in the morning feeling like an iced coffee would be the more accurate way to describe how I feel when my alarm wakes me up at four in the morning. So I have some breakfast, do final checks on my bag (camera, check. Bag packed! :P), and before I know it I’m off to the airport. Many thanks goes to my Dad for driving me there at this ungodly hour of the day!

After many statements of how I’m not going to get home in the afternoon due to the unreliability of Tiger Airways, Dad dropped me off at the airport. The walk through security was a breeze, as not many people are at the airport at this time in the morning...well, so I thought. I was pulled up for a random explosive traces test – I was fine about that, but when the officer realised I was fifteen, he said he needed a parent or a Jetstar representative to witness me being checked over. Obviously, my parents weren’t with me, so we needed to call someone from Jetstar to come to security. I wasn’t holding my breath though, and after a ten to fifteen minute wait, we saw some Jetstar flight attendants come through security and asked them to be my witnesses. Of course, no traces of explosives were found on me or my bag and I was free to go into the departure lounge. I saw JQ401 was departing from Gate 2, and headed over there and saw Matt sitting there by himself. I joined him, we talked for a while (Matt calling Tim who informed us that there wasn’t an impenetrable amount of fog blanketing the airport) and not before long the boarding call was made!

I was forced to admit that I was getting VH-JQL on JQ401 last night, and there it was sitting there outside our gate. But, we were directed to the aircraft on the far end of the apron – VH-VQN! If only it still had its Telstra Next Gen Network decals! A new rego for me anyway.

Boarding was quick and easy. I said goodbye to Matt at the front of the aircraft, and proceeded to board via the rear stairs. One of the flight attendants that acted as my witness back in the security drama was at the door, and smiled as she directed me to my seat, 19A. One of the seats in my row was occupied, and belonged to a nice lady who was going down for Easter to see her grandchildren. She didn’t seem nervous by my tendency to take photos and videos out the window of the aircraft after I explained to her that I have a passion for aviation, etcetera. A lot of other people on the flight were businessmen, which surprised me. I thought most of them would prefer Virgin Blue. But, then again, the duration of the flight is quite short. The legroom on the flight suited me okay, my knees weren't cramped up against the seat in front of me.


Legroom shot!


View out the window.

Ten minutes later, we were pushed back, the engines were started and we began our short taxi. Straight away, we turned left onto TWY Delta. I was sure that we were going to use runway 14, but now thought the wind had changed direction which warranted a 32 departure. However, we continued to taxi onto the runway itself, and backtracked, presumably to overtake DJ500 which pushed back in front of us.


Backtracking down runway 14.

We then turned around using the turning bay and took off into a beautiful sky scattered with small clouds.

Takeoff video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=baVwshWSjMQ

The ascent to FL360 gave me the opportunity to get some nice shots with the sunrise.









Once we levelled off, we had quite a smooth cruise, the flight attendants did a quick drink and snack service, and not before long, we started to descend. My Australian Aviation magazine provided sufficient entertainment for me during the flight! The first officer said that the weather in Sydney was clear and sunny – perfect for me, as it was raining all day at the Gold Coast on Monday.


Descent.

We tracked west of Newcastle before turning left and heading out over the ocean to begin our final approach. The sun on the wing gave it a beautiful golden colour, and lots of container ships could be seen as we were given our final vectors for an approach to runway 34R.
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Old 23rd April 2011, 10:08 PM
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After turning left to head out over the ocean.


A Virgin Blue B737 on final approach to 34L.

View landing video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AzG34YBij4

As seen in the video, landing was quite smooth (I was holding my camera with one hand as the window was in an awkward position for me) and we took the Uniform One rapid exit and began our taxi to the gate.




Where we would be spotting from in a couple of hours!

Whilst taxiing, I was overjoyed to see that one of the two United 744s in SYD today was N128UA, one in the United/Continental livery! Plenty of other aircraft could be seen too - yes, today was going to be great.


Thai A346 and Singapore Airlines 772.


My insides danced when I saw this!!!


Emirates A388, V Australia 77W and United 744.


V Australia 77W, United 744 and Singapore Airlines A388.

We had to wait a while in the aircraft once it was parked at the gate because they were having trouble connecting the aerobridge. But once I got off the aircraft and walked through the gate, Andrew was there waiting (how sweet of him) and then we walked off to begin the day!

First of all, we went to the stairs to catch some early morning departures, namely the Emirates A380 to AKL and the United 747 to MEL. We were hoping 128UA would do the MEL service, but it turned out to be the other 744, 179UA. Luckily, VH-EFR made an appearance as well, and in good light!

Some photos from the stairs



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Old 23rd April 2011, 10:08 PM
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We then went to the breakwater (Andrew generously funding the taxi fare), and spent a while there. A fisherman caught a massive whiting too during our time there, obviously making his day! We didn’t spend long at the breakwater, as there were quite a few fishermen about, so, dodging rabbit holes, we headed over to the beach car park. What a great spot for photography it is! Of course, in the morning, the photos are rather backlit, but I did get some good shots out of it anyway, most including airlines I haven’t even seen before.

Some photos from the beach car park












Possibly the last time I will see ZHB.
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Old 23rd April 2011, 10:09 PM
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A helicopter, VH-ZMF, decided to scare the crap out of us by looking like it was about to fall into Botany Bay whilst doing some low-level flying around the area. Its nose pitched dangerously low, and it looked like it was going to continue dropping!



We decided to head over to the beach fence for a short time, and waved to the crew onboard a Qantas A330-300 as they taxied down towards runway 34L!

Some photos from the beach fence







At around lunchtime, SODPROPS began and we decided to have some lunch at the seafood restaurant – the chips were great, but I had some extremely salty fish as well which didn’t taste that great! We rushed back to the breakwater after to catch VH-OJD depart to PER, in hopes that it would rotate before it disappeared from our view. Our wishes were granted!



The beach car park was calling again – this had to be my favourite location of the day. We saw a Vietnam Airlines A330-200 depart off 16L, which was unexpected!

Some more photos from the beach car park


Note the Vietnam Airlines A330-200 in the background taxiing to 16L.








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Old 23rd April 2011, 10:10 PM
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Runway 34L switched to 16R just before we left.




One of my favourite shots of the day!

Sadly, it was now time to catch another cab and head to the airport for my flight home. When we arrived at T2, Andrew alerted me that 128UA was about to depart. We ran like hell down the length of the terminal, me leaving Andrew behind and making some security personnel think we needed to go to T3...but in the end, we made it! Getting a shot of it would be tricky as a gap was constantly closing between a holding Qantas 744 and a British Airways 772 under tow (with none other than Tim Bowrey in the 772’s cockpit). The gap was still wide enough by the time the United 744 came into non-obstructed view though, and I got the shot!




With Tim in the cockpit.

TT8762
DATE: 19th April, 2011
AIRCRAFT: Airbus A320-232
REGISTRATION: VH-VNB
SECTOR: Sydney (SYD) – Gold Coast (OOL)
SEAT: 18D
ETD/ATD (Gate, Local) 1520/1545
ETA/ATA (Gate, Local) 1645/1707

Web check in for Tiger Airways opens seven days prior to your flight’s scheduled departure, so naturally I checked in as soon as I could – the morning it opened. As it turned out, I was the first passenger to check in! The sequence 001 typed on my boarding pass still makes me laugh. :P



It was sadly time to go home, and I was hoping like hell that my flight back with Tiger wasn’t cancelled or extensively delayed. I looked at the FIDS the first opportunity I had, and saw that my flight would be departing through Gate 40 – and it didn’t show cancelled or ‘DELAYED’ next to it! Hooray! I quickly got through security, bought a milkshake and went to the Jetstar terminal first to watch the arrivals on 16R while sitting in air-conditioning...heaven. I tried my best to get some more shots without too many reflections caused by the glass windows. My first shot of VH-ZPR eventuated from sitting here, and seeing Air Mauritius’s A340-300 touch down was a first for me as well!






For some reason, this Dash under tow was hilarious at the time - it looked so comical!

A decision was made to walk over to the Virgin Blue finger thirty minutes later. Seeing passengers about to board ZPR made us jealous. VUY was there as well, and its next flight was DJ527 to the Gold Coast! I could’ve gone on that! Oh well, it was in a perfect place for a photo!



A beautiful looking golden retriever was unloaded from it too after its previous flight from BNE, and Andrew pointed out that even a dog flew on this aircraft before us. Of course, we felt humiliated.



My ride eventually arrived around fifteen to twenty minutes late – no biggie – at least the delay wasn’t five hours! It turned out to be VH-VNB, an older A320 in Tiger’s fleet. There were a lot of passengers waiting around the gate, suggesting a full load for the flight. Naturally, it was full of kids and families going up for their Easter break, as well as A LOT of foreigners. All of them lined up when the initial call for boarding was made, and once the line thinned out five minutes later, I thanked Andrew for a really good day and said my goodbyes.

Since I was seated in 18A, I was going to be boarding via the rear stairs. The aircraft was packed when I made my way into it, and I had to wait a while to get to my seat. I found that a little kid was sitting in mine! I was disappointed, but did not want to deprive the child of one of the best views in the world, and besides, this may inspire him to get a job in the aviation industry when he is older! I took the vacant 18C, but then the woman next to me asked if I could swap seats with her husband in 18D. I said sure, but in retrospect I could’ve gotten my seat in 18A and the woman could still be next to her husband, even though the aisle separates them. Oh well, I ended up sitting next to this nice old lady anyway. But, the thing is, I couldn’t get any photos of the flight – SORRY! It was lucky that I actually found a seat, as there were passengers clambering all over the place to find theirs, with a lot of confusion. This added a ten minute delay to our already delayed flight, but before long, we were pushed back and I had the fastest taxi I have ever experienced to runway 16L.

Take off was fast and uninterrupted, and we began our standard left turn at five hundred feet – great fun! Our ascent was relatively smooth, except for titbits of minor turbulence. The flight attendants quickly brought around snacks and drinks for anyone who wanted them (of course, its all BOB) and we levelled off at FL370. Ten minutes later, the first officer informed us that we will be tracking south and then passing to the right of Tweed Heads and Coolangatta, before turning left and left again over Palm Beach and arriving on runway 14. I liked how he actually said runway 14 . He also said that we would be arriving in the Gold Coast at three minutes past five, and expected to be at the gate four minutes later. With this information, he stated that since daylight saving has ceased in Sydney, it is on the same time as the Gold Coast. This was the catalyst for what happened the moment after he stopped talking.

The ‘nice old lady’ seated next to me put down her Sudoku puzzle book that had subdued her for half of the flight and began what seemed like a never-ending rant about daylight saving and how stupid it is. She supported this be arguing about Australian politics, and comparing our politics to the barbaric nature of corrupted dictatorships and democracies in Africa, and even going as far back as the Vietnam War. This lasted for the rest of the cruise and the whole descent and taxi. Combined with a headache, this is a situation I would not like to find myself in again.

We had some moderate turbulence passing through thick grey clouds during our final approach into OOL, but we came out of them whilst passing over Palm Beach and made a smooth landing on runway 14. We made another fast taxi to our gate at Tiger Airways’s T2, or as I like to call it, the shed. This is where Freedom Air used to operate out of, and was (I believe) the old international terminal at OOL. It was threatening rain outside, so I quickly disembarked the aircraft and walked inside the terminal. As I was walking, I saw VH-VQY parked at Gate 22 – it looks like it went U/S, as it hadn’t flown since operating JQ983 PER-OOL on the 17th of April. It has since entered service again. Surprisingly, I was impressed with it. It had one baggage carousel and had enough room to handle one flight at a time. It even boasted a café area. Not needing to collect any baggage, I walked straight through the terminal and outside, called Dad who came down and picked me up, and then went home!

That night, I found out that Sydney Airport’s Terminal 2 had been evacuated around FIVE MINUTES after my flight departed! Apparently one of the security screens malfunctioned and some people walked through without been screened. Naturally, this was a massive security scare which prompted the rescreening of all passengers in the terminal, causing major delays to all flights from it – Tiger Airways flights included. I felt so lucky to make it home that evening!

Conclusion

What a day! It wasn’t surprising that I was so tired when I got home!

I had such a great day spotting down in Sydney. The weather was perfect, and I was so lucky with movements and seeing airlines and aircraft that I have never seen before! My flight down with Jetstar was great, with beautiful views, nice cabin crew and an early arrival. This is my third time I have flown with Jetstar, and wouldn’t hesitate to fly with them again. On Tiger, I experienced a professional and friendly cabin crew and a nice quick flight. It was obvious by the quick taxi that the flight crew were trying to make up the delay for us. I would only fly them on short haul legs however, with OOL-MEL or OOL-AVV being the longest I would fly them on. I wouldn’t mind flying them again. During the day, I took around 640 photos and 2 videos. The number of photos has since been revised down to around 180, taking out the duds and the multiple photos of the same aircraft.

I’d just like to thank Andrew for one of the best days I’ve had in my life – everything turned out perfect, and I will definitely be seizing every opportunity I have for another trip down here!

I have since made a video of a compilation of my photos taken during my day in Sydney – please take a moment to watch it if you wish: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yY5oJo1gPM

Thanks for reading my trip report, if you got through it! And sorry again for the lack of photos taken during TT8762!
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Last edited by Brock Little; 23rd April 2011 at 10:19 PM. Reason: Typo
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Old 23rd April 2011, 10:24 PM
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Very good report Brock!! Was a great read mate.. and no worries, was a pleasure spotting with you last week and was defineatly a great day!!
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Old 24th April 2011, 01:19 AM
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What a day indeed.... Great report!
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Old 24th April 2011, 09:10 AM
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Great report Brock,

You are very articulate
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Old 24th April 2011, 09:47 AM
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Nice report Brock,

I love the BA 777 shot!
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Old 24th April 2011, 06:14 PM
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Thanks for reading guys!!!
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