Spotting at Gold Coast airport on a rainy Monday

This weekend was the Pacific Airshow on the Gold Coast, Australia’s biggest beachfront aviation event. Spanning three days along the Surfers Paradise coastline, it featured over five hours each day of aerial stunts, military jets, and vintage warbird displays. Over the next few days (time permitting), I’ll be sorting through the 5,000 photos I took and posting some of them here. My family and I arrived on the coast on Friday and checked out this morning, but instead of heading north towards home, we went south to the Gold Coast Airport to watch some of the display aircraft depart.

LLOYD AVIATION DASSUALT FALCON 900C VH-PPD (MSN 185)

AIR NEW ZEALAND AIRBUS A321-271NX ZK-NNE (MSN 8799)
NZ187 ARRIVING FROM AUCKLAND (AKL) 7 YEARS

JETSTAR AIRBUS A320-232 VH-XSJ (MSN 5482)
JQ431 OFF TO MELBOURNE (MEL) 13 YEARS

UNITED STATES MAIRNE CORP BELL-BOEING MV22B OSPREY
168345 (MSN D0248) 

UNITED STATES MAIRNE CORP BELL-BOEING MV22B OSPREY
168642 (MSN D0297)

SUPERMARINE SPITFIRE MK VIII VH-HET (MSN MV239)

COMMONWEALTH CA-18 MUSTANG VH-SVU (MSN A68170)

QANTASLINK AIRBUS A220-300 VH-X4J (MSN 55409)
QLK1573 OFF TO MELBOURNE (MEL) 8 MONTHS

CAPITAL JET CHARTER PILATUS PC-24 VH-88K (MSN 321)
OFF TO ALBURY (ABX) 3 YEARS

CESSNA CITATION LATITUDE VH-UCE (MSN 680A0316)

EXTRA EA-300 L VH-IOG (MSN 100)

AIRWAYS AVIATION CESSNA 182T SKYLINE VH-TOE (MSN 18282366)

JETSTAR AIRBUS A321-251NX VH-OFY (MSN 11410)
JQ499 OFF TO ADELAIDE (ADL) 3 YEARS

QANTAS BOEING 737-838 VH-XZJ (MSN 39365)
QF593 OFF TO SYDNEY (SYD) 12 YEARS

CESSNA CITATION CJ2 VH-VPM (MSN 525A0354) 19 YEARS

PILATUS PC-9A VH-T63 (MSN 563) 35 YEARS

FIJI AIRWAYS BOEING 737 MAX 8 DQ-FAD (MSN 64308)
FJ980 OFF TO NADI (NAN) 7 YEARS

RAAF ROULETTES PILATUS PC-21 A54-020 (MSN 253)

RAAF ROULETTES PILATUS PC-21 A54-035 (MSN 268)

RAAF ROULETTES PILATUS PC-21 A54-044 (MSN 277)

RAAF ROULETTES PILATUS PC-21 A54-023 (MSN 256)

RAAF ROULETTES PILATUS PC-21 A54-024 (MSN 257)

RAAF ROULETTES PILATUS PC-21 A54-021 (MSN 254)

RAAF ROULETTES PILATUS PC-21 A54-034 (MSN 267)

Vietnam Airlines suffers serious takeoff incident at Munich

A Vietnam Airlines flight traveling from Munich (MUC/EDDM) to Hanoi (HAN/VVNB) experienced a very late rotation on Runway 26L earlier today. The 787-9 overran the end of the runway, became airborne past the threshold in the grass, sustained a confirmed tail strike, and suffered left main gear issues with tyre pressure warnings sounding in the cockpit.

Crew halted climb at FL10,000 feet, dumped fuel for ~90 minutes, performed two low level passes over runway 26R for visual inspection, then executed an emergency landing. Multiple left main gear tyres blew on touchdown. The aircraft vacated to taxiway Alpha 6 and was immobilized there.

No injuries have been reported. 

Substantial aircraft damage has been reported to the aircraft. (rear fuselage puncture, shredded tyres, tail strike module destroyed).

Investigations are underway.

Aircraft Information:

Airline: Vietnam Airlines

Code: VN/HVN

Aircraft: Boeing 787-9

Registration: VN-A867

Serial Number: 39287

Engines: 2 x GEnx-1B

First Flew: 1st April 2016

Age: 10 Years

Sneak peak from the Gold Coast airshow

Yesterday morning, before my family and I set off to the Gold Coast for the weekend to attend the Pacific Airshow, we took a stroll through New Farm Park and along the waterfront, grabbed a cold drink, and snapped a few shots of aircraft departing Brisbane.

MALAYSIA AIRLINES AIRBUS A330-323 9M-MTM (MSN 1431)
MH134 OFF TO KUALA LUMPUR (KUL) 13 YEARS
SPORTING THE MUMBAI INDIANS LIVERY

QANTASLINK EMBRAER E190AR VH-UYU (MSN 19000126)
QLK1918 OFF TO GLADESTONE (GLT) 19 YEARS

VIRGIN AUSTRALIA BOEING 737-8FE VH-VUK (MSN 36602)
VA1235 OFF TO ROCKHAMPTON (ROK) 19 YEARS

AIR NIUGINI BOEING 737-860 P2-PXA (MSN 40966)
PX6 OFF TO PORT MORESBY (POM) 13 YEARS

QANTAS BOEING 737-838 VH-VZZ (MSN 39445)
QF57 OFF TO PORT MORESBY (POM) 14 YEARS

ALLIANCE EMBRAER E190AR VH-UYC (MSN 19000016)
IE715 OFF TO MUNDA (MUA) 21 YEARS
FLYING FOR SOLOMON AIRLINES

SINGAPORE AIRLINES AIRBUS A350-941 9V-SHM (MSN 379)
SQ256 OFF TO SINGAPORE (SIN) 6 YEARS

VIRGIN AUSTRALIA BOEING 737-MAX 8 VH-8IB (MSN 65047)
VA45 OFF TO DENPASAR (DPS) 2 YEARS

QANTASLINK AIRBUS A220-300 VH-X4E (MSN 55312)
QLK1550 OFF TO TOWNSVILLE (TSV) 1 YEAR

CHINA SOUTHERN AIRBUS A330-343 B-8361 (MSN 1814)
CZ382 OFF TO GUANGZHOU (CAN) 8 YEARS

NAURU AIRLINES BOEING 737-83N VH-AN2 (MSN 30660)
ON346 OFF TO DARWIN (DRW) 23 YEARS

After spending a few hours there, we took our eldest daughter and her puppy, Alfie, back to their place, then made the hour-long drive to the coast, arriving in the midafternoon. Since Friday is a practice day for the airshow, I wasn’t too worried about missing the morning displays. I still managed to snap a few shots of the afternoon’s action.