Guest Fred Bear Posted February 10, 2008 Posted February 10, 2008 Hello all. Here is the trip report as promised. It was an early start for us getting up at 0400 to make our way out to Sydney Airport for an 0700 departure. Showered and all the rest of it then made the trip out in the car in the driving rain which, by the way, has not stopped for the last few weeks. Made it to the terminal in plenty of time. Used the self-check in which works very well. Scored seats 21E and F (window) in VH-VBT (Boeing 737-700). Right up the back too. Boarding gate was 32. Captain was capt Blair. Have a look at the view out of the window in stinkin' Sydney while waiting to push back. It was then time to make the long taxii over to RWY 16L for a straight out departure and then left hand turn on course for Coolangatta. Below is the view out of the window on take off. There was a few bumps about in the sky too at this point!!! After tracking a few more miles to the North and gaining a little more altitude, things started to get a little brighter. We say hello to Gary Morgan at Taree below. Laurieton and Port Macquarie in the morning sun. Descent into Coolangatta. Touchdown! Our bird VH-VBT. Emma and I love Kitty O'Sheas on Cavill Ave. I could not help myself with the Meter Maids!! This one was for you Decca. Emma with Chinese Princess for Chinese New Year. Emma has found a new man. "Get this damn photo over with", she says. A shot of both of us. Then we had to make our way back to Coolangatta Airport. Virgin had called us through the day to say that our flight DJ 524 has been canceled and that we could get on a bus (at their expense) and make our way to Brisbane and get DJ 272 home from Brisbane at 2000. The only other choice was to stay the night (at their expense) and fly home from Coolangatta the next day. We could not do it this time as we were nowhere near prepared to stay the night. I commend Virgin Blue on the way they look after their passengers though. While at Coolangatta waiting for the connecting coach to Brisbane I spotted Mineralogy MD82 VP-CBH at one of the parking areas. We then made the 1-and-a-bit hr trip to Brisvegas. Checked in again (Automatically) and had seats 27 E and F once again (window). Boarded at gate 43 Brisvegas. Aircraft this time was Boeing 737-800 VH-VOU. Captain this time was capt. Richard. Altitude home was 40,000ft with an average speed of 823km/h. Passed East of Glenn Inness and almost directly over Armidale. Commenced descent just South of Newcastle for a scenic city landing on 16R. Funnily enough when we hopped out of the aircraft in Sydney it was cold and raining...still. Gold Coast was a lovely sunny 30 degrees. An awesome day all in all. We both thoroughly enjoyed it. Grab yourselves some of those cheap 'happy hour' Virgin Blue fares and go for the day. You won't regret it. Albury trip report on Virgin Blue Embraer E170 to come tomorrow. Hope you enjoyed the trip report.
Ultralights Posted February 10, 2008 Posted February 10, 2008 this might be a littl off topic, but i just returned from the Iron Maiden gig, have you managed to catch a glimpse of Ed force One? the Iron Maiden 757 out at syd??
Guest Fred Bear Posted February 10, 2008 Posted February 10, 2008 I did mate. Saw it yesterday morning on way to the domestic terminal. Rego G-OJIB. More info here: http://www.phpbb88.com/aircraftmonitor/viewtopic.php?t=184&mforum=aircraftmonitor
Guest Decca Posted February 10, 2008 Posted February 10, 2008 Great trip report Darren. Glad you had a great day! OMG those meter maids are looking younger! Well done, Decca.
Guest David C Posted February 11, 2008 Posted February 11, 2008 You're not wrong there Decca ... Oh to be a bit younger .. A good trip report too Darren , many thanks .. Dave C
Deskpilot Posted February 11, 2008 Posted February 11, 2008 737's and metermaids hmmm hardly recreational for us older pharts. Can we keep trip reports to RA flying please. It give us wannado's more incentive.
Guest Fred Bear Posted February 12, 2008 Posted February 12, 2008 737's and metermaids hmmm hardly recreational for us older pharts. Can we keep trip reports to RA flying please. It give us wannado's more incentive. Sure. That's Ians call. I will PM him and see what he thinks. If Ian only wants recreational flying trip reports here, then that's all I will post. I did not know they had to be recreational trip reports. If Ian gives the ok to post trip reports on other adventures, be it 737 or A380, I will continue to post them. Sorry Doug.
Guest Fred Bear Posted February 12, 2008 Posted February 12, 2008 One thing I will say Doug and honestly I am not having a go at you personally, is that there has been so much stuff on the forums of late that has not interested me. If you don't believe it, look how scant my posts are over the last few months. My point is why read it and comment on it if it does not interest you? That's what I do, just ignore, say nothing and move on to a post that does interest me. Just a thought.
Admin Posted February 12, 2008 Posted February 12, 2008 gee Guys, why ya gotta bring me in on this :big_grin: We are all interested in trip reports not only in flying recreational aircraft but even as a member of this great community the holidays that we take. So what say we make it that the Trip Reports forum be just for recreational flying trips and other trip reports we have in the general discussion area - hey, I am guilty of putting my Europe trip in the Trip Reports forum so I gather I created the precedence. Is that ok with all? I will move this over to the general discussion forum and oh Darren, what souvenirs (or things falling into your bag) did you score?
Guest Fred Bear Posted February 12, 2008 Posted February 12, 2008 Ian, Thanks. Maybe next time I can title it in the trip reports thread a little better like: "Gold Coast Trip Report-Commercial Aviation". For any other trip reports maybe: "Flying The Oaks-Recreational Aviation". PS: Nothing fell in the bag this time apart from the inflight magazine. Maybe on Thursday though ;)
Deskpilot Posted February 12, 2008 Posted February 12, 2008 Hi Guy's, Darren, like you I only open and read posts that I think are topics of interest to me. Trip Reports being one of them. It wasn't until I had opened and started reading it that I found it wasn't the sort of trip I thought it was going to be. For sure, there are points of interest in all trips, Ian's European one being a good example, but day trips to another part of this country via commercial airlines are a bit 'off the subject'. Them's my thought anyhow. Not being disrespectful, Darren, maybe Ian's idea has merit.
Guest Fred Bear Posted February 12, 2008 Posted February 12, 2008 Point taken that is why I will, in the future, post commercial aviation reports in the general discussion thread and recreational aviation ones in the trip reports thread. I will title them appropriately so that who wants to read them can read them and who does not need not bother reading them. Doug, all types of flight for me (and many others on this forum) are magic. In the commercial aviation reports I try to capture the scenery below that is just as beautiful (sometimes better) than what we see in our recreational machines. That's all it is about. If someone were to post about their night in the pub and include pics of them all getting drunk then I might say it is a little off topic. Flying, to me, is not off topic no matter what sort of flight. I'll try to keep everyone happy.
Admin Posted February 12, 2008 Posted February 12, 2008 I have just moved my Europe trip over to General Discussion as well :big_grin:
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