Inverell Airport

After doing my calls in Armidale this morning I had another 90 min drive to the next town of Inverell. As I was driving there I thought I will swing by the airport (tiny as it is) and have a look at what was there. I thought I would try my luck and see if I could get airside for some photos as the aircraft were parked on angles and away from the fence line so I couldn't get any decent shots.
I tried knocking on a few office doors without luck, then I found a business that was open, I went in and spoke to this very nice gentleman explaining that I had a blog and I was from Brisbane and I wanted to know if someone could take me airside to get a few photos. Well, in true country style fashion Paul; the managing director of Northwest Aviation; said yes mate feel free to wonder around and get what you want.
Inverell Airport (IATA: IVR, ICAO: YIVL) is located approximately 15 km (9.3 miles) south of the Inverell township. It is owned and operated by the Inverell Shire Council; the airport has two runways; the main runway, 16 / 34 is asphalt and is 2,114 metres long (6,936 feet) and the second runway is a grass / dirt runway measuring 700 metres long (2,297 feet). the airport is 813 metres  (2,667 feet) above sea level. I discovered when I was there they have a brand new terminal, in fact I don't even think it is open yet as the doors were all locked and I could see plastic on all the seats.
The airport does not have a control tower so pilots are required to communicate via a Common Traffic Advisory Frequency (CTAF) to safely co-ordinate arrivals and departures.
Thanks again goes to Paul at Northwest Aviation but also to my beautiful wife; Judy; who gathers all the data for me while I am on the road.
Tonight I am in Moree so I will be visiting the airport after my calls tomorrow.



THE NEW INVERELL AIRPORT TERMINAL

PIPER PA-28-151 CHEROKEE VH-PZM (CN 28-7715152)

CESSNA 182 Q VH-WNJ (CN 18265705)

PIPER PA-32-300 CHEROKEE VH-PBG (CN 32-40859)

CESSNA 182Q VH-FUZ (CN 18266516)

PIPER PA-31-350 NAVAJO VH-LIL (CN 31-7852061)

AMERICAN AIRCRAFT CORP AA-5B VH-IFQ (CN AA5B-0622)

PIPER PA28-180D VH-ARD (CN 28-4911)

CESSNA 182G SKYLANE VH-WRZ (CN 18255340)

FAR RIGHT .. CESSNA 152C VH-KTM (CN 15285800)
 

Armidale Airport

Today my business took me on a 6 hour driving trip into the heart of New South Wales to a place called Armidale. Leaving Brisbane's clear blue sky's I headed south and the further I drove the darker and colder it got. The weather closed in and I was experiencing a little of the destruction Sydney coped last night. The temperature dropped to 4 degrees (39 Fahrenheit) in some parts of the trip. But the dark clouds made for some beautiful scenery along the way. Due to the severe storm in Sydney, Sydney Airport was experiencing severe delays, and the morning arrivals into Armidale did not turn up until mid afternoon. I was lucky enough to catch two arrivals within 5 mins of each other today.

Armidale Airport (IATA: ARM, ICAO: YARM) is serviced by both Qantas Link using Bombardier Q300 and Rex (Regional Express) using Saab 340's and both companies have daily direct flights to Sydney only. The airport is operated by the Armidale Dumaresq Shire Council, the airport is 1,084 metres (3,556 feet) above sea level.

It has two runways; 05/23 which is the main runway with an asphalt surface measuring 1,738 metres long (5,702 feet) and 09/27 is a grassed surface measuring 1,116 metres long (3,661 feet)

The airport is located 3.7 km; (2.3 miles) southwest of the town centre, on the New England Highway. The Armidale Dumaresq Shire Council has a number of upgrades currently in progress, and when completed the works will increase capacity, allowing the airport to handle 70 seat aircraft such as the Bombardier Q400 operated by Qantas Link and potentially attract new airlines such as Virgin Australia, operating ATR 72's. The airport does not have a control tower so pilots are required to communicate via a Common Traffic Advisory Frequency (CTAF) to safely co-ordinate arrivals and departures.
(For those of you who have joined me from February onwards, when I was in Armidale back in January I got a tour of the airport so if you are interested in having a look at the amazing pictures I took, go back to my home page and click on January and there you will find the blog I did)







QANTAS LINK DASH 8-300 VH-TQS (CN 418)

 

ARRIVING FROM SYDNEY AS QF 2022

 

QANTAS LINK DASH 8-300 VH-SBW (CN 599)

 

ALSO ARRIVING FROM SYDNEY AS QF 2024

 

QANTAS LINK DASH 8-300 VH-TQK (CN 600)

 

ARRIVING JUST BEFORE DARK AS QF 2030

 

RUNWAY 05 ARMIDALE

 

REX SAAB 340 VH-REX (CN 384)
 

New Boeing 787 has unique Star Wars livery

Japan's All Nippon Airways has painted a Boeing 787 to mark December's release of the new Star Wars: The Force Awakens, this eye-catching aircraft will fly across a number of ANA's international routes later this year.

The below link is a full on video of the Dreamliner in the Star Wars livery from ANA's website; it is worth a look as this aircraft is mind blowing.

http://www.ana-sw.com/detail/index.html

More information and photos can be found here

http://www.ausbt.com.au/new-boeing-787-has-unique-star-wars-livery

Spotting at Coolangatta - Gold Coast

Today I decided I would drive down to Coolangatta Airport, a 1 hour drive from my place, to do some spotting for a change. Coolangatta is the hub for Jetstar but also gets Scoot and Air Asia X where Brisbane doesn't and as I haven't seen these two airlines for some time, I thought it would be good for a change.
Scoot is usually due in at 7.25am local and Air Asia X around 7.55am local and they both leave around 9.00am. So I thought I would get down there early, get the arrivals and wait for the departures and then head back home as I had commitments with my family for the day. Well they were both delayed by over an hour with Air Asia arriving at 9.03am and Scoot touched down at 9.10am local.
Gold Coast Airport, (formally known as Coolangatta Airport), (IATA: OOL, ICAO: YBCG) is both a domestic and international airport located at the southern end of the Gold Coast, approximately 100 km (62 miles) south of Brisbane and 25 km (16 miles) south of the famous Surfers Paradise.
Gold Coast Airport is 6 meters (21 feet) above sea level, it has two asphalt runways; Runway 14 / 32 which is the main runway, is 2,492 metres long (8,176 feet) and Runway 17 / 35 which is 582 metres (1,909 feet) long.
Until 1999 the airport was known as Coolangatta Airport. This is an Aboriginal word meaning "Place of Good View". Runway 14 / 32  straddles the states border of Queensland and New South Wales. Runway 14 in is Queensland while Runway 32 is in New South wales. During summer these states are in two different time zones; but the Gold Coast Airport operates on Queensland time all year round. Gold Coast Airport is the sixth busiest airport in Australia and is a controlled airport from 6am (20.00 Zulu) until 10pm (12.00 Zulu) it is then CTAF after that.

Below are some photos I took today



VIRGIN AUSTRALIA BOEING 737-8FE VH-YFK (CN 41004)

JETSTAR AIRBUS A320-232 VH-VGH (CN 4495)

HAWKER 900XP VH-EVF (CN HA-0044)

JETSTAR AIRBUS A320-232 VH-XJS (CN 5482)

JETSTAR A321-231 VH-VWZ (CN 1195)

PLANE THREE PTY LTD CESSNA 182P VH-EFK (CN 182-65054)

BARKEL GROUP BEECH 76 DUCHESS VH-AZX (CN ME 28)

AIR GOLD COAST AIRCRAFT PTY LTD CESSNA 152 AEROBAT

VH-BMB (CN 152-0903)
IT WAS A PLEASURE TO SEE AN AIRCRAFT WITH MY INITIALS
"BRAVO MIKE BRAVO"

AIR ASIA X AIRBUS A330-343 9M-XXH (CN 1165) 

TOUCHING DOWN ON RW 14 GOLD COAST

SCOOT BOEING 777-212 9V-OTC (CN 28509)

TOUCHING DOWN ALSO ON RW 14 GOLD COAST

CESSNA 680 VH-VPL (CN 680-0250)

TIGER AIR AIRBUS A320-232 VH-VNQ (CN 5218)

Brisbane: Work starts on new Aviation facility

Construction on the new $10 million Aviation Australia campus at Brisbane Airport has begun, with the building contract awarded to ADCO.
Due for completion in early 2016, the new 5,000m² facility will replace and expand the current corporate office, providing 20 new lecture rooms, a technical training centre and café.
The development will be a significant expansion to Aviation Australia’s base at Brisbane Airport, which includes an existing training centre and airside hangar, taking the total lease area to approximately 19,000m². Mr Horrocks said the new facility will include CareFlight’s Helicopter Emergency Services (HEMS) Academy with Australia’s first Augusta Westland 139 helicopter full flight simulator, delivered as part of partnership with Thales, a global technology leader in the aerospace, transportation and defence and security markets.

Sourced from http://www.aviationbusiness.com.au

Asiana Airlines plane skids off runway

BREAKING NEWS

 

An Asiana Airlines Airbus A320-200, flight OZ-162, with the registration HL7762 (CN 3244) from Seoul South Korea to Hiroshima Japan with 74 passengers and 8 crew, was on approach to Hiroshima's runway 28 at about 20:05 (local) but touched down about 330 meters short of the runway threshold. The tail struck the ground, the aircraft broke through the localizer antenna, skidded down to the right of the runway turning 180 degrees around in the process and came to rest facing up the runway from where it just came from. The airport has been closed as a result of the crash, and emergency services are at the scene, with twenty people injured being taken to hospital.
An Asiana Airlines flight crashed two years ago as it approached San Francisco's airport in an accident that left three teenagers dead and nearly 200 other passengers injured.

 Source from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/ and http://avherald.com/

 

Seattle: Alaska Airlines worker trapped in cargo hold.

An Alaska Airlines flight declared an emergency shortly after take off at 7.35am (Seattle Time) and made a priority landing 20 mins later after taking off with a worker trapped in the cargo hold.

The pilot of flight AS 448, a Boeing 737-990 N464AA (CN 40714)  bound for Los Angeles, was alerted by the sound of banging from beneath the aircraft.

The baggage handler emerged from the pressurised hold, saying he had fallen asleep inside it, the airline said. The worker "appeared OK" but was taken to hospital as a precaution, it said.

The aircraft had been in the air for 18 minutes.

Alaska Airlines later said the worker had been discharged from hospital and had also passed a drugs test. The aircraft later depart Seattle at 9.01am (local) and landed in Los Angeles at 11.33am.



ALASKA AIRLINES B737-890 N516AS (CN 39044)
AIRCAFT PHOTO SIMILAR TO THE ONE MENTIONED ABOVE

Below image is the aircraft departing for the first time and the second image is the circuit the aircraft performed as it returned to drop off the precious cargo.