Back in December last year the Gold Coast airport advertised a competition where you can submit up to 5 photos and if your photo is chosen as one of the best you and 19 others can join them for an airside spotting adventure, including breakfast afterwards. I am very excited to say one of my photos were chosen and today I headed to the Gold Coast for this exciting experience.
Gold Coast Airport (formerly known as Coolangatta Airport) (IATA: OOL, ICAO: YBCG) is located at the southern end of the Gold Coast and is approximately 102 km (64 miles) south of Brisbane. The entrance to the airport is situated in the suburb of Bilinga. The runway itself straddles the state border of Queensland and New South Wales so one end (32) is in NSW and the other end (14) is in QLD. During summer these states are in two different time zones. The Gold Coast Airport operates on Queensland Time all year round (year-round AEST / UTC+10). The airport has two runways, the main one is 14 / 32 and is 2,492 metres long (8,176 feet) and is made of asphalt. The second runway is 17 / 35 and is 582 metres long (1,909 feet) long and is also made of asphalt.
I left home at 6.30am as we had to be at the Gold Coast office before 8am for check in and to get our security visitor passes.
Once we were briefed on the do and don'ts we headed down stairs to a bus which would take us airside. When we arrived at the external security gate we had to be swabbed, so in groups of 5 we got off the bus and took our turn being swabbed.
After we were all clear the driver and the bus were tested too.
Once everyone got the all clear the gates rolled back and we were on the "other side" of the fence. This is when the excitement kicked in. If you are into aviation, and you must be if you read this blog, you would understand the excitement of being airside. We were taken out to a designated viewing area we were could wander freely within the bounds of the asphalt area.
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| FOLLOW ME (ESCORT) CAR |
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| GOLD COAST TOWER |
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| QANTAS B737-838 VH-VXQ (CN 33723) |
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| RETRO ROO 11 |
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| SCOOT B787-8 9V-OFC (CN 37120) |
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| AIR GOLD COAST CESSNA 172S VH-AVT (CN 17211014) |
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| PLANE THREE TRUST PIPER PA 31-350 VH-OIH (CN 31-7852058) |
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| AIR GOLD COAST CESSNA 172 VH-NWZ (CN 17280933) |
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| JETSTAR A320-232 VH-VFQ (CN 5780) |
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| AIR GOLD COAST CESSNA 172R VH-RBB (CN 17280776) |
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| I SEE YOU... GO PRO ON BONNET OF AIRPORT CAR |
After a while we boarded the bus again and went over to have a closer look at the private Boeing 787 which came into the Gold Coast Airport yesterday.
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| DEER JET B787-8 2-DEER (CN 35309) |
After having a close up look of the 787 the organisers wanted a group photo.
From here we walked over to a inactive taxiway (Lima) to take more photos of aircraft coming and going.
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| SUNDOWN PASTERAL BEECHCRAFT B300 VH-NSI (CN FL-415) |
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TIGERAIR B737-8FE VH-VOR (CN 33799)
VIRGIN AUSTRALIA AIRCRAFT REPAINTED |
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| JETSTAR A320-232 VH-VQM (CN 2608) |
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| VIRGIN AUSTRALIA B737-8FE VH-VUG (CN 34438) |
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| SCOOT B787-8 9V-OFC (CN 37120) |
The fire fighters called over for a chat and once we were on the bus again they did a demo of what the can do. Unfortunately the windows go wet and I could see anymore...
A short time later we went back to our original spot and waited for the Air Asia X A330 which was in a special livery; the UFC colour scheme.. (Ultimate Fighting Championship.) Ultimate Fighting Championship is an American mixed martial arts promotion company based in Las Vegas.
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| AIR ASIA X A330-343 9M-XXD (CN 1066) |
Today was truly amazing and I want to sincerely thank Gold Coast airport and the team for making this happen.
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