Man arrested on Qantas Perth - Brisbane flight

QANTAS A330-202 VH-EBK (CN 0945)                   File Photo

A Queensland man has been granted bail after allegedly causing a disturbance on a flight from Perth to Brisbane.

Qantas flight QF652 returned to Perth after about an hour in the air and it's alleged the man, 38, became very abusive and repeatedly failed to follow crew instructions on the overnight flight.

The aircraft was just entering the Great Australian Bite when it turned around and headed back to Perth.

The man was arrested by Australian Federal Police on the plane's return and the flight was delayed by about three hours, arriving in Brisbane yesterday morning.

An AFP spokeswoman said the man was expected to face charges including assaulting aircrew, harming a Commonwealth officer and obstructing police.

He appeared in the Perth Magistrates' Court yesterday and was bailed to reappear on August 9.

The aircraft, an Airbus A330-202 with Rego VH-EBK departed from Perth's runway 21 at 11.05pm Perth time and returned just over two hours later landing on runway 24 at 1.37am.
QF 652 then departed again on runway 21 at 4.35am Perth time arriving into Brisbane at 8.24am Brisbane time landing on runway 19.

Bankstown Airport

I've mentioned on here a few times now that Bankstown airport is very close to our branch in Moorebank, in fact it is 15 minutes away in good traffic. So this afternoon after work I decided to go back out and have another look around. When I got there I noticed not only had two of the Air New Zealand Beech 1900's gone or been moved but there were no aircraft doing circuits which was unusual. In fact nothing had come or gone for the 45 minutes I was there. The wind there tonight was extremly strong and bitterly cold making it an unpleasant trip out.
I drove around the airport looking for something different or special and I found another Air New Zealand Beech 1900 behind some hangers, I also manage to get a few other aircraft on the ground.

GENERAL AVIATION MAINTENANCE
AERO COMMANDER 500S VH-UJL (CN 3088)

BEECH 1900D VH-OYZ (CN UE-439)
Was ZK-EAP of Air New Zealand Link (Eagle Airways)

BEECH 1900D VH-OYV (CN UE-428)
Was ZK-EAE of Air New Zealand Link (Eagle Airways)

ECLIPSE AVIATION EA500 N465DG (CN 000250)

CORPORATE AIRCRAFT CHARTER BEECH 200B
VH-URU (CN BB-1150)

TOLL ATR 42-300 VH-TOX (CN 042)



BEECH 1900D VH-OYY (CN UE-437)
Was ZK-EAN of Air New Zealand Link (Eagle Airways)

SCHOFEILDS FLYING SCHOOL PIPER PA-28
VH-SFM (CN 28-8016151)

K & D STAR INVESTMENTS PIPER PA-28
VH-JQO (CN 28-7890416)

SEAWING AIRWAYS De HAVILLAND DHC II
VH-SWB (CN 1557)

BEECH 33A BONANZA VH-DCD (CN CE-1003)

CIRRUS SR 22 VH-HGK (CN 2337)

SYDNEY SKYDIVERS CESSNA 208 VH-XLV (CN 20800053)

PIPER AEROSTAR 601P VH-JHG (CN 61P-0582-7963256)

Emirates and Flydubai join forces

EMIRATES A380-861 A6-EEL (CN 133)          File Photo

Emirates and flydubai today unveiled an extensive partnership which will see the two Dubai-based airlines join forces to offer customers unmatched travel options. Both airlines will continue to be managed independently, but will leverage each other’s network to scale up their operations and accelerate growth.
The innovative partnership goes beyond code-sharing and includes integrated network collaboration with coordinated scheduling. The new model will give flydubai customers seamless connectivity to Emirates’ worldwide destinations spanning six continents. For Emirates’ customers, it opens up flydubai’s robust regional network.
The two airlines will also further develop their hub at Dubai International, aligning their systems and operations to ensure a seamless travel experience through the ultra-modern airport; currently the world’s busiest for international passengers.
HH Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman and Chief Executive of Emirates Group and Chairman of flydubai, said: "This is an exciting and significant development for Emirates, flydubai, and Dubai aviation. Both airlines have grown independently and successfully over the years, and this new partnership will unlock the immense value that the complementary models of both companies can bring to consumers, each airline, and to Dubai.”
Emirates today has a wide-body fleet of 259 aircraft, flying to 157 destinations (including 16 cargo-only points). flydubai operates 58 New-Generation Boeing 737 aircraft to 95 destinations. The current combined network comprises 216 unique destination points.
The partnership is working to optimise the networks and schedules of both airlines, to open up new city-pair connections offering consumers greater choice. Additionally, this will help both airlines feed more traffic into each other’s complementary networks. By 2022, the combined network of Emirates and flydubai is expected to reach 240 destinations, served by a combined fleet of 380 aircraft.
The Emirates and flydubai teams are working together on a number of initiatives spanning commercial, network planning, airport operations, customer journey, and frequent flyer programmes alignment.
The partnership will be rolled out over the coming months, with the first enhanced code-sharing arrangements starting in the last quarter of 2017. Further details will be communicated as they become available.
Fully owned by the Investment Corporation of Dubai (ICD), both Emirates and flydubai are operated independently and under separate management teams.


Story sourced from here
http://www.emirates247.com/business/emirates-and-flydubai-join-forces-announce-extensive-partnership-agreement-2017-07-17-1.656398

Wellcamp - Sydney Trip

                                WELLCAMP AIRPORT               (File Photo)

Having commitments in Pittsworth on Friday I decided to drive out to Pittsworth last night where our friends live and stay the night with them. Then this morning I would have a short 20 min drive to Brisbane West (Wellcamp) Airport (IATA: WTB - ICAO: YBWW.)
Flying back into Wellcamp on Thursday night I would be in Pittsworth for my personal appointments on Friday morning. (The below photos were taken from a previous visit to the airport.)

This is the first time I have flown out of or into this airport.
My QantasLink flight (QF 2015) departs at 6.20am and boarding is at 6am, so at 5am I left our friends home in Pittsworth arriving at the airport at 5.20am.

QANTASLINK DASH 8 Q402 NG VH-LQG (CN 4376)

We began boarding at 6.10am and I took my seat which was 4A, the aircraft for today was a Dash 8 Q400 and the registration was VH-LQG (CN 4376) Wellcamp doesn't have an aerobridge so we had to walk out onto the tarmac to board the aircraft. Getting out to the aircraft we had to wait for about 2 minutes before we could board for some reason. We finally boarded and the last cabin door was closed at 6.30. The engines were started at 6.33am. Since Wellcamp don't have aerobridges we didn't need pushing back so we just started taxiing at 6.36 and taxied out for runway 30. We had a rolling start and got airborne 20 minutes late at 6.39am, we made a long slow left hand turn as we climbed to flight level 250, and i could see the airport as we flew south.

WELLCAMP AIRPORT

Our track took us just west of Stanthorpe and down over the top of Glen Innes, there we tracked to the east of Armidale and on to Cessnock then into Sydney. The flight down was very smooth and comfortable. The pilot told us the delay was due to our slot time in Sydney, if we left on time we would have had to hold for 20 minutes anyway so it was best to stay on the ground.

At 7.40 we began our descent and once over the city of Sydney we banked left and headed out to sea for a short while before making a 180 degree turn and landing from the south on 34R right on our scheduled time of 8.00am.

CATHAY A330-343 B-LAI (CN 959) 

QANTAS B737-838 VH-VXJ (CN 33480)

EMIRATES A380-861 A6-EUI (CN 221)

SINGAPORE A380-841 9V-SKD (CN 008)

KKOREAN AIR A330-323 HL-7553 (CN 267)

After stopping a few times on our taxi in we made it to the gate only to find we had to get a bus to the terminal. So this was a whole new experience for me.

Virgin Australia Drops Sectors

VIRGIN AUSTRALIA B777-3GZ VH-VPF (CN 37940)        File Photo

I posted this last month but I was a month early so I am posting it again.
From today Virgin Australia will no longer fly from Brisbane to Bundaberg, Gladstone and Moranbah in Queensland or Port Macquarie in New South Wales. These routes have been handed over to Alliance Airlines but the flights will still have Virgin Australia code share flight numbers. Brisbane-based Alliance Airlines is also adding wet-lease flying for Virgin Australia on three more routes from Brisbane to Cloncurry, Mt Isa and Rockhampton.

Although passengers will be traveling on an ‘Alliance Airlines’ aircraft rather than one painted as ‘Virgin Australia’, if you book the flight with Virgin you will still be provided with the full serve of frequent flyer points and status credits. Alliance Airlines will be using their Fokker 100's and Fokker 70LR aircraft in their place. “The operation of the regional Queensland and wet lease flights will require an additional three operational aircraft that have already been acquire from Austrian Airlines,” 

ALLIANCE F28  / 100 VH-FKJ (CN 11372)               File Photo

ALLIANCE F28  / 70 VH-FKJ (CN 11571)               File Photo

The shake-up comes as Virgin Australia reduces the size of its regional ATR turboprop fleet from 14 planes down to just 6 from mid-2017. The six ATR 72-500s to be withdrawn are FVH, VH-FVI, VH-FVL, VH-FVM, VH-FVU and VH-FVX.

VIRGIN AUSTRALIA ATR 72 - 212'S              File Photo

Rare Sight for Brisbane

Today Brisbane was treated to a very rare site indeed, the treat was in the way of a Brazilian Air Force Embraer KC-390 PT-ZNJ (CN 39000002). This aircraft is flying around the world showing itself off to countries interested in looking to buy this amazing aircraft.
The Brazilian manufacturer is taking the KC-390 to New Zealand in support of its bid for the Royal New Zealand Air Force’s future air mobility and future air surveillance capability requirements to replace the C-130H and P-3K2 Orion maritime surveillance aircraft.
The KC-390 first touched down at Port Hedland in Western Australia’s north west, having flown in from Kuala Lumpur. The aircraft was on the ground for about five and a half hours before flying to Brisbane. It was on the ground here for 12 hours, arriving at 1.48am and departing at 1.58pm.

AIRCRAFT STATS
Length - 33.43 Metres
Wingspan - 33.94 Metres
Height - 11.43 Metres
Powered by 2 IAE V2500-E5 Turbofan engines
Max Speed - Mach .08 (850 Klms)
Range - 2,730 Nautical Miles
Ceiling - 36,000 Feet (10,973 Metres)

Spotting Saturday Morning

As our flight was coming into Brisbane last night I noticed the extremely low cloud cover. It was so low you could only see the tops of the largest buildings in the city. As we continued our approach I was expecting the flight to do a missed approach and climb, but we continued in and landed around 5.15pm. As I drove home I was amazed at the amount of thick fog on the ground. As the evening went on the fog got worse and Brisbane Airport ended up closing just after 7.30pm.
Flights were put in holding patterns for some time in hope the fog would pass, but it didn't. Flights ended up diverting to any available airport, some went to the Gold Coast like the late evening China Airlines, some went to the Sunshine Coast. The smaller aircraft opted for Hervey Bay and Gladstone. We had diversions to Rockhampton, Sydney and the evening Emirates A380 went to Melbourne. The Emirates B777 which comes in around midnight also diverted to Melbourne. Having said all that, I went out to the airport this morning thinking the diverted flights would come back in, but the only one that arrived was the China flight from the Gold Coast. The Emirates A380 will depart Melbourne tonight at 5pm arriving here just after 7pm which would be its normal arrival time. The Emirates 777 will also come in around midnight.
Below are the photos from this morning

EMIRATES A380-861 A6-EEQ (CN 141)

STATE OF QUEENSLAND CESSNA 560 VH-PSU (CN 5600515)

BRISBANE CITY

KOREAN AIR A330-323 HL-8002 (CN 1576)

SINGAPORE A330-343 9V-SSF (CN 1609)

ALLIANCE FOKKER 100 VH-FKJ (CN 11372)

STATE OF QUEENSLAND CESSNA 208 VH-PSV (CN 20800410)

JETGO EMBRAER 135 VZJG (CN 145522)

CHINA AIRLINES A330-302 B-18316 (CN 838)

CATHAY PACIFIC A330-343 B-LAC (CN 679)

NAURU AIRLINES B737-3H6QC VH-VLI (CN 27125)

UNITED STATES AIR FORCE KC-10 87-0119 (CN 48305)

CHINA EASTERN A330-243 B-5937 (CN 1468)

SINGAPORE A330-343 9V-STW (CN 1447)

QANTAS B747-438 VH-OEE (CN 32909)

EVA AIR A330-203 B-16311 (CN 693)

PHILIPPINE A321-231 RP-C9916 (CN 6363)

VIRGIN AUSTRALIA B777-3ZG VH-VPF (CN 37940)

QANTAS A330-303 VH-QPH (CN 0695)

AIR CANADA B787-8 C-GHQQ (CN 35263)

CHINA SOUTHERN A330-323 B-5966 (CN 1625)