Qantas charity flight to Longreach

On the 1st September I posted the below story

QANTAS's Retro Roo charity joy flight now on sale

The famous Qantas Retro Roo – a Boeing 737 decked out in eye-catching 1970s livery – will make a special joy flight from Sydney to Longreach on Saturday October 31, and tickets for what promises to be a once-in-a-lifetime experience are now on sale. And it's not just the plane that's retro – there's a fun dash of 1970s throwback woven into this all-day event, which will raise money for the Western Queensland Drought Appeal.
Your day will start with a champagne breakfast and special musical performance at Sydney’s Qantas Domestic Business Lounge.
Then it's onto the Retro Roo for a 9.30am wheels-up and a leisurely 2.5 hour flight to Longreach, Queensland – a historic and spiritual cornerstone of Qantas and home to the Qantas Founders Museum, where you'll be hosted at a private tour and lunch. Tickets for this one-off flight cost $737 and all funds raised by Qantas will go directly to the Western Queensland Drought Appeal to help those in difficulty as a result of the ongoing drought.

Well yesterday was the day and since I had a 5am flight my day started at 3am (well actually 1.30am as I was awake and couldn't sleep)

I arrived at the airport at 4am and since I had no luggage to check in I went straight to the gate.

I was travelling business class on this leg for the first time ever and 1A was my seat.

We boarded QF 501 at 4.40 and we pushed back from gate 20 at 5.01; we commenced taxiing at 5.06 and headed down for a 01 departure. Due to an aircraft arriving on 19 we had to wait, we got airborne at 5.16 and made a few long slow banks to the right before climbing to 360.

I asked the flight attendant if he knew what the registration of the aircraft was and he replied VH-XZJ. He said we call it the zipper, then I realised I was coming down on the Aboriginal painted aircraft "Mendoorwoorrji" I thought that was pretty cool coming down on that as I was heading for another Qantas aircraft also in special livery.

QANTAS B737-838 VH-XZJ (CN 39365)

We began our descent into Sydney at 6.06am but due to daylight savings in NSW we had to put our clocks forward an hour so it was 7.06 there. We over flew the city and the Sydney Harbour Bridge and we landed on runway 34R at 7.26. We taxied to gate 2 arriving there at 7.34. As soon as we disembarked I headed straight for the Qantas Business Lounge where the festivities had already begun. As soon as I walked in I was offered champagne and finger food. The Qantas cabin crew were all decked out in the retro 1970's gear and most of the passengers were dressed up in the 1970's theme as well; we even had the famous Leo Sayer come in and perform for us. 

LEO SAYER: SINGER, SONG WRITER AND ENTERTAINER

The guest speaker and chaperone for today was the famous, gorgeous and talented Catriona Rowntree

We also had a Qantas Executive, Mr John Gissing come along with us for the fun and festivities 

Well the time came to board the aircraft and at 8.40am (local time) we all headed down for gate 5. My seat number for this flight was 21C and I was sitting next a lovely couple from Sydney and I found out he had his own blog but for Trains. (www.gshsignal.blogspot.com.au). We had a special flight number of QF1360, we pushed back at 9.04 and commenced taxiing at 9.08; we were departing from 34L so we had fair way to taxi. We got airborne at 9.21 and climbed to flight level 360. Not only was the aircraft and cabin crew in Retro gear but even the menu, which was designed by Neil Perry and the Rockpool team, was from the 70's era.

Our track took us out west of Roma and up into Longreach.

As we flew in you could clearly see why QANTAS wanted to do this charity flight for the farmers out west, it was extremely dry for as far as you could see

We began our descent at 10.53 and as we made our approach we over flew the airport landing from the north on runway 04 at 11.23am. But as we were back in Queensland we lost an hour so all times were actually an hour earlier..(confusing hey)

Heading to Longreach and the home of QANTAS was something I have wanted to all my life so to be there was really exciting and amazing. The weather was hot but there was a slight to moderate breeze which was welcoming I tell you. We were free to wonder around at our leisure and I tell you I crawled all over this place taking everything in.

QANTAS B737-838 VH-XZP (CN 44577)

CATALINA PBY-6A FLYING BOAT

DH-61

DH-50

BOEING 707-138 VH-XBA

Mc DONNELL DOUGLAS DC 3 VH-EAP

BOEING 747-238 VH-EBQ (CN 22145)

VH-EBQ IS NOW REGISTERED TO A QANTAS A330-202

It was time to head inside for some lunch and much needed refreshments and another performance; this time from real legend Glenn Shorrock and the "The River Band"

With QANTAS's 95th Birthday approaching (on the 16th November) we sang happy birthday to QANTAS and we cut a cake in the shape of 95 and it had a little runway and a Retro Roo on it.

Sadly it was time to leave and head home, so we all headed for the "new" terminal and boarded the aircraft. This time I was in 24C and as soon as we boarded we were offered a Margarita. I took my seat next to two wonderful guys from Melbourne, Victor and Rex.

There were items being auctioned off as well and people really dug deep.

Our flight number back was QF 1361; we started boarding at 2.15pm taxied at 3.02pm and were we were airborne off runway 04 at 3.04pm; we climbed to 390 and again our track took us west of Roma and down into Sydney.

Crossing the NSW boarder we lost an hour so we began our descent at  5.38pm and flew past the airport heading south for some time due to sequencing, we landed on Runway 34L at 6.05.

I can tell you on the way back it was a real party atmosphere and everyone had an amazing time.

When we landed I had the pleasure of sitting in the captains seat and for a few seconds live a dream of sitting there for real.

An amazing day had come to an end; a huge thank you goes to QANTAS for putting on such an event, Shell for supplying the fuel and to Sydney Airport for waiving the landing fee's. But huge thanks also go to the pilots, Capt. Charles Crowthey and First Officer James Tapp for flying us there and back safely. Thanks also goes to QANTAS Manager, PR, Media and Communications Amanda Bolger and to the amazing, fun loving carefree flight crew Jasmine, Brittany, Mel, Shane, Danielle, Deb and Georgina for looking after us there and back and last but not least the stunning Catriona Rowntree.  All these people volunteered their time to make our day as special and memorable as possible.

Unfortunately my day wasn't finished as I still had another flight back to Brisbane leaving Sydney at 8.20pm. I made my way over to the Jetstar terminal and headed up to gate 57; we started boarding at 8.02pm and my seat for this leg was 4D.  Our departure time of 8.20 came and went and we eventually pushed back at 8.41; we taxied at 8.44 and taxied out for 34R which is the furthest point of the airport. We had a rolling start and became airborne at 8.55pm; the climb out was very bumpy and uncomfortable. We climb to 370 where it was smooth; the aircraft for this flight was VH-VFV and I couldn't believe it but it was "another" special livery (3 in one day) We began our descent at 9.38 (8.38 QLD time) and landed on runway 01 at 9.57.

JET STAR A320-232 VH-VFV (CN 5858)