Plane Spotting

Spent some time this afternoon at the airport. First of all we parked around on the Sunbury Road under the approach to the north-south runway (runway 16). The first thing that struck me, wasn't a Boeing 777, but the apparent turf war going on between two ice cream vans. With the cool weather we're currently having (an icy 22 degrees C) business can't be too good, but two vans in the one spot must be professional suicide for purveyors of fine ice confectionery.

Gelati Turf War in the carpark

In the short time we were there a number of aircraft flew over, mostly Virgin and Qantas 737s, one Jetstar A320, and a Qantaslink (Qantas' regional brand) Dash 8.

Virgin Blue 737 on approach to Melbourne Airport
The winglets (upright bits on wing tips) are available
as a factory option, but I believe that Virgin Blue have
fitted a lot of their fleet with after market versions.

"When I grow up I want to be a Boeing 787 dreamliner"
Qantaslink Dash 8 coming from somewhere like Devonport,
Mildura or Canberra "shudder".

After a short drive to Sunbury and back we made our way back past the terminal, and around to the opposite side of the airfield near the control tower. Along the way we passed the new expanded long term car park, the taxi holding area complete with prayer room, numerous parts of airport land that are being sold off and developed (goodbye extra runways!) and the maintenance hangers at the southern end of the airfield.

Joining the throng in the car park (not an ice cream van to be seen!) along side the north south runway which sees most of the action we settled in for our afternoons entertainment. The car park is situated almost directly opposite the terminal buildings. It started off pretty quiet, with the odd departure or arrival, but things soon began heat up with the afternoon rush hour. While probably not busy compared to what goes in other places there was a fair bit of action. The highlights for me were Singapore and Qantas 747-400s, the Thai 777, and my first sightings of the rare Tiger A320s. Special mention must go to the Skywest Fokker F100. Skywest only recently began direct flights between Kalgoorlie and Melbourne.

A Qantas 767-300 leaps into the air

Singapore Airlines 747-400 rotates as a Qantas aircraft
of the same model taxis to the runway.

Now it is Qantas' turn, also flying to Singapore, but its
ultimate destination is London's Heathrow airport.

Confucius say that man who go through airport metal
detector sideways is going to Bangkok, as are the
passengers on board this Thai Airways
Boeing 777-300.