JQ Sydney to Melbourne

[Guest Darren Masters]

Hey all. I am flying out of Sydney tomorrow on JQ 601 leaving Sydney at 0600 and arriving Melbourne Avalon at 0730. I return Sydney on JQ 626 on Wednesday arriving Sydney at 2125. Purpose of visit is to create the website for mate Paul Andronicou as so many of you know from his flying displays all over the East Coast. The domain name will be live in a few days and I will post on here when it is done. We will be doing some aerobatics tomorrow afternoon in Pauls RV8 VH-VPA. Stay tuned for trip report and pics. Glenn, keen on some Plane Plotter tracking in the morning? Today JQ 601 was operated by their new aircraft VH-VQF. With a bit of luck may get that bird in the morning!

 

 

[Guest OzChris]

Awesome Darren - looking forward to the report and the pics mate...

 

Im very green :mrgreen:

 

 

[Guest Glenn]

Too early for me Darren. Don't make too much noise as you pass by. I think you should come pretty close to here

 

 

[Tim E]

Hope Melbourne puts on a good day for you Darren. You will fly by here in Nrth East Vict in the distance .....about 25 minutes before you touch down in Melbourne. Have a great flight and time with the aerobatics! :) Tim

 

 

[Guest Darren Masters]

Thanks guys! Glenn, don't think I will be going your way though??? I thought usually straight down the coast if it is 16 out of Sydney. Down via Wollongong then Canberra etc. Tim, I will try and wave hello :lol: All for the love of anything flight my friends. As long as one has flight in their life they are whole :P

 

 

[Guest Glenn]

Think I have seen some melbourne bound ones near here. Maybe they are the ones from Brisbane. Ohh well you could go to Brisbane then fly down. I'll be sure to get a shot then.

 

 

[Nick]

Hey Darren i am looking forward to seeing the new website. Paul is a great pilot and he puts on some great shows =D> Hope you have fun in Melbourne :D

 

 

[Guest David C]

Have a great trip Darren .... A bit early to planeplot you , hopefully I will still be in the land of nod at 0600 tomorrow . say hello to Paul for me . I remember vividly your last flight with Paul at Cowra , hope this time is just as awesome ..Have fun mate ..

 

Dave C

 

 

[Guest Darren Masters]

Thanks guys. What a great community we have here on this web site. Sharing aviation stories/pics and making one another generally feel 'good' I promise to take as many pics as I possibly can and post them on here as soon as I can. I will not do the video thing as this time I am just taking carry on luggage and want to 'enjoy the flights' with Paul more than film most of it. There will still be still shots. Stay tuned...

 

 

[Guest Glenn]

Darren, can you get cockpit shots of both aircraft? Something I didn't do when they were in town here :)

 

 

[Guest Darren Masters]

Yes of VPA and XTR?

 

 

[Guest Glenn]

Both if you can, but give priority to xtr :)

 

 

[Guest Darren Masters]

Will do mate :D

 

 

[Guest Darren Masters]

Rego was VH-VQL. Still in Melbourne. Full report and pics to come when I arrive back in Sydney Wednesday night.

 

 

[Robbo]

Damn, Could have brought you a beer in Geelong !

 

 

[Guest Darren Masters]

Damn' date=' Could have brought you a beer in Geelong ![/quote']Bugger! I will be leaving Avalon tomorrow night at 2010

[Guest Darren Masters]

Hello all. Here is the trip report as promised.

 

Drove out very early to the airport on Sunday 4th May 2008 for an 0600 departure onboard Jetstar Airways flight JQ 601. Parked over at Krispy Kremes and Emma also came into the airport. Was quite a cool, windy morning and the sun was far from coming up. Already checked-in via the net so all I had to do was print my boarding pass at the check in kiosk. The web check-in works very well and printing the boarding pass was painless. Made our way through security and Emma got her usual explosive trace test. I am the one with number 1 shaved head and she always cops the trace test!! After that we got some Maccas in the terminal then made our way over to my departure gate which was gate 57 right at the end of the terminal. Ate our breakfasts. Spotted my aircraft which would be VH-JQL. Also saw a QF Dash 8 with the unusual rego of VH-SCE. Said goodbye for Emma and boarded at around 0545. Strapped into the seat. My seat was 29A up the back. Captain was capt. Mitchener. Crew were all very young. As we began to taxi at around 0555 the sun was slowly coming up. Spotted an overfly heading to the land of the long white cloud above too! We made the long taxi out to RWY 16L. Lined up and took off relatively early due to only half load of pax. Over to the refineries at Kurnell then a right hand bank tracking for Wollongong. By this point the sunset is starting to look great, the seatbelt sign is off so we can move around the cabin. That I did and went over to the right-hand side to check out Wollongong. Magnificent view! A little later made my way back to my seat and noticed our contrail beside us. First time I have ever seen a contrail from the aircraft I have been a passenger on! Looked magnificent. Some pics of our contrail below.

 

 

 

 

A video of the contrail below (no sound).

 

http://www.zshare.net/video/1170741217bb8c19/

 

A little further on and over the ACT and we see lovely snow in the sunrise.

 

 

 

Rest of the flight was uneventful. A little bumpy but that was about it. We flew right over the top of Tullamarine and I saw quite a few aircraft (DJ and QF) taxiing way below. Continued further West to Avalon for a left-hand circuit and landing on RWY 36. Nice bumpy landing. Saw many aerochutes (like 20 plus) flying just East of there out of a dirt strip. Lots of sheep and cattle on the very dry drought-affected ground on approach to Avalon. Paul picked me up then we made our way to his place along the freeway. After that we all made our way out (long drive) to Latrobe Valley Airfield. Watched some skydiving there and a trike doing circuits. Quite a large airfield there. After that we pulled out Paul's RV8 VH-VPA. I would be going with Glenn and another guy Ben to Tooradin in Cessna 172 VH-UGO. Paul would follow us (very slowly) in formation in his RV8 with another passenger. I would later come back with Paul from Tooradin to Latrobe Valley in his RV8 (upside down most of the way). Below are some pics of the day.

 

Paul's RV8 VH-VPA.

 

 

Colourful skydiver @ Latrobe Valley Airfield.

 

 

Departure from Latrobe Valley in the C172 VH-UGO.

 

 

Some scenery on the way to Tooradin.

 

 

 

 

Approaching Tooradin.

 

 

 

 

 

On the ground @ Tooradin.

 

 

Our C172 VH-UGO on the ground @ Tooradin.

 

 

A friends Jabiru @ Tooradin.

 

 

VH-CRN Cessna 208B Grand Caravan @ Tooradin.

 

 

The office of VH-CRN.

 

 

Had lunch at Tooradin and then a few hours later prepared to make our way back to Latrobe Valley. I went with Paul in his RV8. We flew low-level (a few hundred feet most of the way back) in the RV8 (Paul has a low-level ticket and had permission) so that was an amazing experience at 170kts! A few barrel rolls here and there and then a few loops, stall turns etc and a low-level beat-up of Latrobe Valley at 170kts. Now that looks good from that low. Pulled straight up, knife edge then roll and then finally joined the circuit for an absolute greaser landing at Latrobe Valley. After that we pulled apart the RV8 while having some beers for her maintenance. When we completed that and it was well and truly dark we made the car trip to Moe (where my dad was born and raised) to visit a mate of Paul's that was building a Sonex. Great stuff.

 

In conclusion, purpose of the trip was to create Paul's web page at:

 

http://www.extra300saerobatics.com

 

and to generally catch up. I have many more additions to the web page to come including flash and other things. I will create a separate thread for this. Last night, trying to make the flight out of Avalon to Sydney was most interesting. Flight was due to depart Avalon at 2010. We left Paul's house at 1830 which we thought would be plenty of time. Made our way over the West Gate bridge onto the freeway and would you believe we were stuck in a shocker of an accident that only had one lane open and was not moving! I called Emma and told her I would miss the flight. From the distance I could see my A320 approaching Avalon. We got through the traffic and Paul did speeds as fast as in his Extra and we made it. As I said, departure was due at 2010 and I showed up to the airport at 2020!!! It would have been the first flight I had ever missed. The girl at the desk gave me the "Thank God you checked in online" thing and no sooner I went through security and we were boarding. I was shaking let me tell you. Climbed onboard VH-VQU seated in 28A right up the back again. I just point out I chose my own seats and this worked very well so I can't fault Jetstar on that one. Again, young crew. It was clear that there were quite a few pax that had been caught up in this prang on the motorway. We were eventually underway, 30mins late. At least I was going home! Captain this time was Capt Wanke (no I am not joking), we took off on RWY 18, straight over the sea then into some very bumpy cloud and a left turn over the top of Melbourne city. Uneventful most of the way. Bought a $6 VB on the way home, read a little of the inflight magazine and admired the view of Albury/Wodonga below. We then tracked out over Campbelltown where we were thrown around nicely by the Westerly wind. We continued our track North then over the Eastern suburbs beaches offering an excellent view of the city for a nice smooth landing on RWY 25. Emma sent me a text saying "I just saw you land". Must have been just below us on the road near the helipad! All in all, an excellent few days away and unbeatable flights for $108 return.

 

Hints: Use the web check in. Quick and easy and you can select your seats.

 

Hope you enjoyed the trip report.

 

 

[Guest Glenn]

Excellent report Darren. Good to see what a contrail looks like close up

 

 

[Tim E]

Great reading and great pics Darren. Thanks.Glad u enjoyed it!

 

 

[Guest David C]

Great stuff mate .... Loved the pics . just one question , That J230 at Tooradin . Is that the one that lives at The Oaks ?? . I was just wondering as it has the same 3 bladed prop , and that's just a lttle unusual on J230 . Once again , great report and thanks for sharing .. =D>

 

Dave C

 

 

[Guest Darren Masters]

Hey Dave. Thanks mate. That is Brent C's GA registered Jab.

 

 

[Guest OzChris]

I enjoyed the report Darren - and FREAKIN awesome pictures mate!!

 

I especially loved that Cessna Grand Caravan - I love them!