This week being episode 747, we decided to have a little fun and look at some Australian Boeing 747 milestones over the years. There are so many to cover, so these are just a snapshot. We highly recommend checking out the Aussie Airliners website for a superb reference on Jumbo’s and many, many other types in Australian service.
We also include a piece from our friend Owen Zupp who was one of the pilots taking Qantas’ final 747 on its flight to the Victorville Boneyard. As it left Australian skies, the aircraft’s flight path traced a flying kangaroo, with Owen telling us some of the planning that went into it. This is an excerpt from our full interview with Owen which you can find at Plane Crazy Down Under‘s Series 2, Episode 2: Owen Zupp on Resilience.
Meanwhile, in the news this week, regional operator ReX have made the decision to cut schedules across their route network, citing access to trained staff and the impact of global supply chain issues impacting their ability to service and operate their fleet, especially in terms of sourcing parts & spares for their SAAB 340’s.
The Australian Government’s Defence Strategic Review has been released, and we continue to pour over the details, with the Army appearing to cop the brunt of cutbacks and/or changes to equipment and posturing, while the impact, if any, on defence aviation operations remains to be seen. We’ll have more on this in future editions of this report, and on Plane Crazy Down Underaus & the Australian Defence Magazine podcast in coming weeks.
Finally, it’s been 14 years since our first meet-up at Moorabbin that spawned the Australia Desk and PCDU. Plus, as we record this, it’s David Vanderhoof’s birthday so, sadly, Grant just had to sing Happy Birthday…
Qantas 747-438 VH-OJA arrives at Woolongong for permanent display at HARS
(Image by Seth Jaworski)
Steve, Grant & Steven Pam at the Airplane Geeks meetup in 2009, from which the Australia Desk and PCDU were born…
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