Hello Kitty Speed Puff in Brisbane

When I woke this morning I checked the aircraft radar as I do everyday to see what is happening and I noticed that Eva was bringing in their Hello Kitty aircraft. We have had a run on B-16311 the Happy Music livery but today was B-136309 the Speed Puff livery. Although this aircraft has only been into Brisbane 3 times in total (the other two visits were Apr and Aug this year) this was the first time I have seen it. Even though I would have rather stayed home and rested I made my way out to the airport to see this aircraft.... the things we do for our passion.

EVA AIR A330-203 B-16309 (CN 661)

HELLO KITTY SPEED PUFF

I arrived early enough to catch the early morning movements

QANTAS B747-438 VH-OJS (CN 25564)

AIR CANADA B787-9 C-FGDT (CN 37171)

CHINA SOUTHERN A330-323 B-8538 (CN1699)

LIFE FLIGHT AGUSTA AW-139 VH-XIL (CN 41411)

EMIRATES A380-861 A6-EEG  (CN 116)

KOREAN AIR A330-323 HL-8003 (CN 1590)

TOLL  B737-476F ZK-TLJ (CN 24432)

CATHAY PACIFIC A330-343 B-LBJ (CN 1618)

China Airlines was on final before Cathay but was to close to the aircraft in front, a QantasLink Q400 and the pilot called "WE'RE GOING AROUND" 

CHINA AIRLINES A330-302 B-18359 (CN 1367)

AIR NEW ZEALAND B777-319 ZK-OKS (CN 44547)

WESTERN GLOBAL MD 11 N435KD (CN 48435)

RAAF C-17 GLOBEMASTER III

This week in Brisbane

As I drive around Brisbane I always have my camera in the car in case I get to see something unusual or different or we may get a diversion. This week I caught a C17 Globemaster III doing touch and goes at Amberley, and a few unusual arrivals in Brisbane in the way of a Western Global Airlines MD11 and the Netherlands Government Fokker 70 bringing in King Willem Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherland. While at the airport I also saw an American Bombardier 5000.
Then on Thursday night we had a storm in our area so I grabbed a few lightning photos.

The MD 11 freighter has been doing runs between Brisbane and Niugini for the last three days and has a few more days on this run before leaving Brisbane.
The Fokker 70 came to Australia via Perth, then went to Canberra and Sydney, up to Brisbane before doing a few Sydney Brisbane runs. It went to New Zealand and flew around there for 3 days before heading back to the Netherlands. It called into Brisbane yesterday for an hour then departed for Darwin. Today it departed Darwin for Singapore where it will refuel and head to Chennai India.

RAAF C-17A GLOBEMASTER III A41-212 (CN 50271)

BOMBARDIER GLOBAL 5000 N933ML (CN 9504)

WESTERN GLOBAL AIRLINES MD 11 N435KD (CN 48435)

NETHERNS GOVERNMENT FOKKER 70 PH-KBX (CN 11547)

Melbourne Airport Tower Hacked

MELBOURNE TOWER

Aircraft were forced to abort landings and to go around seconds before touching down after receiving a hoax radio call. 

The Australian Federal Police (AFP) has launched an investigation after someone made hoax calls to pilots, causing a passenger flight to abort landing as it approached Melbourne Airport.

The incident occurred shortly after 5:00pm on October 27, when Virgin Australia flight 740, from the Gold Coast to Melbourne, changed its altitude and course under the instruction of the unauthorised person transmitting from an unknown location.
It is understood that 15 unauthorised transmissions occurred over a two-week period. Calls were received by both aircraft and Melbourne Air Traffic Services Centre.
A plane came within 275 feet of the runway at 5:19pm as it approached Tullamarine Airport.
After receiving a hoax call the plane climbed to 3,800 feet and started circling over north-west Melbourne.
Later that evening, the hoax caller impersonated the pilot of a light aircraft. He issued a mayday call and pretended to be experiencing engine trouble.
The Australian Federal Police have issued a warning about unauthorised radio transmissions and have launched an investigation into the incidents

Sunday Morning at the Airport

The last few days aircraft traveling west to east over Australia have been experiencing some amazing tail winds pushing their ground speeds up to over 1100klms per hour and that is fantastic for the airlines. Well the same cant be said for the east to west bound aircraft as they are facing incredible head winds; so the Qantas flight from Dallas - Sydney has had to divert to Brisbane two days in a row simply because of fuel shortage. I found out last that the new Qantas livery A330 QPJ (that I saw in Sydney) and Qantas 8 was coming in; and the fact that Brisbane doesn't get Qantas A380's except on diversions; I got up at 4 am and at 4.30am headed off to the airport (via Macca's for breakfast).

QANTAS A330-303 VH-QPJ (CN 712)

QANTAS A380-842 VH-OQK (CN 063)

JETGO EMBRAER 135 VH-JGB (CN 145728)

QANTAS A330-303 VH-QPC (CN 564)

NAURU AIRLINES 737-36N VH-PNI (CN 28555)

SINGAPORE A330-343 9V-STD (CN 28514)

VIRGIN AUSTRALIA B777-3GZER VH-VPH (CN 37943)

EMIRATES A380-861 A6-EEF (CN 113)

QANTAS (JET CONNECT) B737-838 ZK-ZQA (CN 34200)

After a while a fellow spotter took me to another area where you can get better shots of departing aircraft if they are using 01

QANTASLINK Q400 DASH 8 VH-QOS (CN 4263)

AIR CANADA B787-9 C-FNOG (CN 35266)

QANTAS 8 HEADING DOWN TO SYDNEY AFTER A QUICK STOP

TOLL B737-476 ZK-TLJ (CN 24432)

The morning got better when a German Air Ambulance Challenger 604; with a callsign of Red Angel 1812; came in to land.

GERMAN AIR AMBULANCE CHALLENGER 604

D-AFAB (CN 5510)

CALLSIGN RED ANGEL 1812

FIJI AIRWAYS B737-8X2 DQ-FJH (CN 29969)

TIGER A320-232 VH-VNO (CN 4053)

EVA A330-203 B-16308 (CN 655)

PHILIPPINE A320-214 RP-C8618 (CN5140)

CHINA AIRLINES A33-343 B-18358 (CN 1346)

MASALU  DANCERS

CATHAY PACIFIC A330-343 B-LAQ (CN 1349)

GULFSTREAM 650 N47TR (CN 6101)