Sunsets, storms and other.

I have done some interesting flying recently, including some Melbourne to Sydney ferry flights, which was fun flying the dash and near empty weights. There was a lot of weather on the way as well, and since we were empty we decided diverting 100nm to get around it wasn't as important. Plus, it was Friday afternoon!

We managed to weave around the worst of it at 23000ft, but it was still a fairly bumpy ride which involved being pushed up and down around 500ft and a lot of ice accumulation on the airframe. We had our crew dinners on the front seat of the plane, which were loaded there before we closed the door. Neither of us elected to eat it, mainly due to it being around 5PM, and we both had a much nicer dinner waiting at home. Im pretty sure they ended up somewhere on the floor, but we both actually forgot to check what happened to them through the bumps. Did i mention it was Friday afternoon?

Anyhoo, we got through around 80nm of solid muck and bumps, into the most random smooth and clear evening into Sydney i had seen in a while, so there was no excuse for a bad landing, which i'm pretty sure, wasn't one of my best. But i blame the captain, he put the pressure on :)

Nothing like jet envy! That was a 767 from Melbourne to Sydney. We saw about 3 other jets overtake us. Gotta love turboprops!!

Crew meals. Not sure what happened to them!

The engine from i think row 3?

Getting a beverage from the galley down the back. They had no water on board weirdly, so the order was 2 coke zero's.

The storms and weather that lay ahead. Didn't look to bad or as big from this point, but it made the next 80nm go quite quick.

Sydney's epic storms last week, was probably the worst flying conditions i have ever encountered. We were doing the late Moree in the Dash-200, and as we departed we could see a big line of storms forming to the west towards Dubbo and western NSW. That didn't really bother us, with a light 200, best rate of climb through the build up, and a few early turns to the north and we were able to have a smooth, clear flight the entire 280nm to Moree.

After a quick turn around we departed to Sydney. Enroute almost instantly in the last remaining daylight we were able to visually, what looked like a cell, but wasn't showing up on the weather radar. After a 30nm diversion to the east, we saw a lot of lightning coming out of it and were pretty happy with our decision to avoid it. As we approached closer and closer to Sydney, we could see more and more cells appearing on the radar. At range 100nm, and showing no ground returns, when you see orange and red being painted so far away, you know its going to be bad. Sydney was also approx 100nm on the DME distance.

I couldn't get a good shot as we got closer for the main reason, as we had a high workload, talking to approach and working out our plan of attack. Also the bumps were so bad i couldn't get a clear shot, as you can see in the second photo.

Most of the jets were going into 34L, and we were for 34R into Sydney. I think we were the only plane to the east of the field and our instructions were basically, manoeuvre as required to get in. We were cleared to 2000ft, and eventually a radar lowest safe altitude of 1500ft. The weather radar was basically painting magenta coloured cells about 5nm in length and thickness with just small gaps in between them. There was so much lightning around us, rain, bumps and cloud it was fairly disorientating.

Somehow, we were able to get a short but direct visual path to the airport, where we intercepted an abbreviated ILS to finals from about 5nm. We saw about 5 planes waiting for takeoff on that runway as we landed. However due to the storms around Sydney, it's airport policy that the ground guys do not work when there is lighting. So we also sat on the ground for around 58 minutes waiting for ground power, and ground marshalling to the gate. The weather was bad enough that were letting planes turn any direction from the parallel runways.

Truely, i cannot say i learnt a whole lot from the experience, other than that myself and the crew worked very well together over the whole situation. We were aware of what was going on around us and how to organise ourselves to avoid the weather and operate safely in the conditions. It was challenging flying though, which is satisfying once on the ground. 

Dash-8-ski. I have seen fans like this in the russian planes, but in one of our planes without an APU, there are fans to keep us cool during summer turn around's. Surprisingly effective, but seriously vintage! Thought it was kinda weird and funny. I also didn't really notice it being there till the captain pointed it out to me. Don't know whether i should admit that point however.

Anyway, all the best for the Christmas holidays, hope its been great with good family and food! Once again thanks for reading and the support! 

Forgot this one was here

Not sure if i posted this on a previous post, but it looks good, although slightly blurry!

Wing to wing with a C441 from a baron. 

Late Moree

Flying the Dash-8-200 back from a late Moree, was a pretty amazing sunset. With daylight savings we don't get a lot of night flying at the moment, but we do get some amazing moments like this. Taken at about 8:45pm, i couldn't help but take a photo.

We had some interesting weather all around Sydney and the sound east coast. There was one day where i think every flight from Port Macquarie did not get in! On that day i flew to Tamworth, which was pretty bad also, requiring an RNAV to the minima on runway 12. Not really a lot to say, its been fun flying and the past week has involved 2 ferry flights to Newcastle/Williamtown Airport.

It's military controlled, so it's just like being back in Darwin, although there is a lot more fast jet activity. I think both times i have been there, i have seen squadrons of Hawks and FA18's doing circuit work. Always good to watch. Kinda feel a little slow in a dash-8 next to them!

Anyway, from Sydney, its only 76nm with a flight time of around 25 minutes each way. The flight required us to sit on the ground for a few hours due to available slots into Sydney, so sitting around in an office with not a whole lot to do, was again, just like being back in Darwin. Anyway, wasn't a bad duty off a reserve period.

Williamtown on a pretty average day!

Pretending to be a passenger! We had the APU running as a Brisbane based crew was taking this aeroplane, so we had to stay with the plane until they took it off us.

Till next time!

787 in Sydney

I was lucky enough to have an ASIC that gets me around the jetbase at Sydney. I was also lucky enough to be on reserve with no callout, and even luckier that another friend who was called out to fly gave me his 787 open day invitation. It was fantastic to see up close, and i also got to see the new Qantas Boeing 737 sky interior planes. Overall a good day! Here are some photos -

Business seats, above and below on the 737 -

AVOD on domestic flights is definately good.

737 cockpit above and 787 below!

 

First glimpse of the 787 in the jetbase

Engine shot. Not small.

Wing and engine -

And more. Notice the raked wingtips

Enjoy.