Paperwork ahoy

The morning starting when I pulled into the airport car park at 6.30am.

Then off to the terminal, where I and the other lucky winners met the staff from Melbourne Airport, and filled in the paperwork required to be issued with visitors passes so we could enter the airside security restricted area.

Almost an hour later the paper shuffling was finally done and passes issued, so time to go – upstairs, downstairs, around the bend and then through a staff only door, leading to the security checkpoint leading airside. Time to bring out our ID and visitors passes, have them cross-referenced against the Aviation Security Identification Card of our Melbourne Airport sponsor, photo taken, bags x-rayed and put through the explosive detection swab, and we were in.

Or not – we were greeted by the baggage handing room.

Kane Constructions photo

Down another corridor, out a door, along the apron, and there it was – the bus that would take us out beside the runway.

And the Melbourne Airport airside safety car that would escort us there.

But a piece of bad news – the Qantas A380 arrival we had came here to photograph had been cancelled, the plane stuck in Sydney due to technical issues.

None the less, there was still a busy morning of both international and domestic arrivals and departures to see, so all aboard!

Headed airside

Off we went driving along the taxiways.

Having to give way to taxiing planes.

But we made it – the bus pulled up beside the arrival end of runway 34.

A taxiway on the other.

And aircraft lighting beneath our feet.

Our instructions from our airfield safety escort were quite simple – “don’t go past the gable markers in the grass over there or the runway gets shut down, but you can go behind the bus, just not onto the taxiway”.

Time for some planespotting

The first arrival was a Singapore Airlines Boeing 747-400 freighter.

Touching down a short distance away from us.

Rolling past with full reverse thrust.

Next up was a far smaller QantasLink DHC Dash 8 Q300.

A Virgin Australia Boeing 737-800.

And a Xiamen Air Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner.

Who were amused by our group of photographers standing out beside the runway.

The stream of inbound flights led to a queue of planes waiting to take off.

First to take off was an Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner.

Soaring off into the grey skies.

From out in the middle of the airfield, this landing Jetstar Airways Airbus A320 looked quite tall and lanky.

But the noisiest plane was this relatively small 125-seater QantasLink Boeing 717.

I swear the pilot had wound the two rear-mounted engines up as far as they could go, and launched the plane right off the runway in no time at all.

“Change places!”

With the international arrivals finished for the morning, we climbed back onboard the bus and drove a little further down runway 34 to where departing pilots call “rotate” and take off.

The first take off to greet us – another run of the mill domestic Boeing 737.

A Jetstar A320 that rotated much earlier along the runway.

Another yet another 737, but with far more photogenic lighting.

But it was cameras out for the next departure.

A United Airlines Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner.

Off to the USA.

Next up, a Thai Airways International Airbus A350.

And the last international departure.

A Bamboo Airways Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner off to Vietnam.

And with that, time to go back to the bus.

Our final stop, taxiway Sierra.

To inspect the Cathay Pacific Boeing 777-300ER parked for the weekend.

And with that, our morning airside was over – back onto the bus for the trip back to the terminal.

Footnote: car parking at Melbourne Airport

My usual trick at Melbourne Airport is to head to the cheaper long term car park, rather than park at the terminal. It’s currently branded the ‘Value Car Park‘ and costs $12 a day.

But try and find a space at the northern end, where you can walk direct to the terminals, instead of waiting for the shuttle bus.

Post retrieved by 37.59.21.100 using Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux i686) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/30.0.1599.66 Safari/537.36

The post Airside adventures at Melbourne Airport appeared first on Waking up in Geelong.

Some background

Adelaide Airport is located approximately 6 kilometres from the Adelaide CBD.

With the suburbs of Brooklyn Park and West Richmond under the approach path to the main runway.

Approach lighting directs aircraft towards runway 23.

Airservices Australia – YPAD Aerodrome Chart

But the airport land ends just a short distance away from the runway threshold.

So the approaching lighting continues beyond the airport fence.

On the hunt for approaching lighting

The first set of approach lights are found at the corner of Morley and Trennery Street, on a piece of land fenced off from the public but outside the airport perimeter fence.

Turn 180 degrees, and you’ll find a another gantry holding approach lights, this time just sitting beside the nature strip.

Heading along Trennery Street, you’ll find a set of lights wedged between two houses.

A few doors down is an short fence on an empty block of land, and a set of runway lights at the rear.

Around the block on Ralph Street, there is a set of lights in a backyard.

And another on the block next door, which no longer has a house on it.

Next door the runway light is in the front yard.

Down the street is another gantry just chilling on the nature strip.

And few houses along I found the last set of runway lights – on a double block of land with a short fence preventing public access.

All lit up at night, they look like this.

Photo by Airport Electrical

So who owns the land?

The Adelaide Airport master plan details current and future aircraft approach lighting situation.

Aircraft approach lighting is operated and maintained by Adelaide Airport Limited (AAL). The approach lighting is located at the ends of the Adelaide Airport runways, extending into residential areas at West Richmond for Runway 23 where such lighting is generally held under easement or by ownership of specific allotments.

The long-term continuity of this lighting in the vicinity of the current sites is aligned with aviation services at Adelaide Airport. It is possible that such lighting will be replaced with more efficient systems within the next 20 years.

AAL has purchased freehold land outside of the airport site to ensure the long-term protection of the runway approach lighting corridor. Additional land will be secured as it becomes available. The freehold land is not subject to the airport lease arrangements or Airports Act regulatory framework.

The parcels of freehold land are indicated on the master plan map.

And include:

• the three parcels I’ve already identified on Trennery Street and Ralph Street,
• one parcel on Lyons Street which is empty,
• and a parcel on Britton Street which adjoins the airport.

The most recent acquisition appears to be 17 Ralph Street – older Google Street View imagery shows the runway lights in a backyard, not an empty block. The property was sold in June 2017 for $325,000.

Another hut

In between houses on Press Road in Brooklyn Park I found another aviation related building – an Airservices Australia equipment hut.

Located around 1000 metres from the end of Adelaide Airport runway 23, I suspect it houses the instrument landing system (ILS) ‘Middle Marker’ beacon transmitter.

More lights on Marion Road

Over on Reddit someone mentioned that the high voltage power lines along Marion Road also have aircraft warning lights atop them.

A total of 10 power poles have them – stretching from Brooklyn Avenue in the north to Knight Street in the south – seen here with a Qantas 737 flying overhead.

And another lucky Google Street View catch

Back in September 2019 the Google Street View car was driving down Lyons Street in Brooklyn park where it captured something interesting in the sky.

A plane on final approach

A Jetstar A320 to be precise.

Coming in over the the houses.

And in to Adelaide Airport.

A technical footnote

The Airservices Australia Aerodrome Chart lists the following approach lighting at Adelaide Airport.

Runway 05: HIRL MIRL
Runway 23: HIRL MIRL HIAL – CAT 1 HSL
Runway 12: MIRL
Runway 30: MIRL

Notes:
– HIAL non-standard 4 bar system
– HIAL CAT 1 aligned with ILS GP

Translated into something resembling English.

HIRL: High Intensity Runway Lights
MIRL: Medium Intensity Runway Lights
HIAL: High Intensity Approach Lighting System
HSL: Hold Short Lights

And ILS GP:

Instrument Landing System Glide Path

Sources

• Adelaide Airport charts, Airservices Australia
• Adelaide Airport master plan

Further reading

• Adelaide Airport: a brief overview of its history by the West Torrens Historical Society
• Planespotting in Adelaide at Weekend Notes
• Adelaide Airport at spottersguide.net

Post retrieved by 37.59.21.100 using Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux i686) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/30.0.1599.66 Safari/537.36

The post Backyard approaching lighting at Adelaide Airport appeared first on Waking up in Geelong.

Google Earth

14 January 2014
Air India flight AI301
Boeing 787-8 VT-ANM

Photo by byeangel from Tsingtao, China, via Wikimedia Commons

From the Carry-on blog.

Operating AI301 from Sydney to Melbourne VT-ANM approached and crossed Melbourne from the east following usual tracking paths for aircraft inbound from the north-east to YMML’s active Runway 34.

The flight crew initiated a right turn to lining up for Essendon’s Runway 35 mistaking it for YMML’s Runway 34.

Sources in Airservices Australia confirm the flight crew discontinued the approach at roughly 1,050 ft after being notified by Melbourne Approach, made a left turn, climbed to 1,500 ft and re-established a second approach this time to Runway 34.

The missed approach is easy to see on the flight track.

FlightAware flight tracking log

31 March 1994
Australian Airlines
Boeing 737-300 VH-TJA

Photo by Aero Icarus from Zürich, Switzerland, via Wikimedia Commons

Note: not the same 737 as this incident

From the ATSB investigation.

At about 18 NM from Melbourne, the crew were requested by air traffic control to report when the Melbourne runway was in sight. The crew reported they had that runway in sight and were cleared to track to join final inside 8 NM from Melbourne.

The crew requested and were given further track shortening until they were instructed to make a visual approach for runway 34 and to call Melbourne Tower. The Approach Controller then diverted his attention to other duties for a short period.

On rechecking the progress of the aircraft it appeared, to him, to be on final for runway 35 at Essendon. The aircraft was at an altitude of approximately 1500 feet. The Approach Controller advised Melbourne Tower who instructed the aircraft to turn left for Melbourne. The aircraft subsequently landed without further incident.

The flight crew subsequently advised that when they were given the visual approach they believed they had the Melbourne Airport in sight and its position was confirmed by checking the map displayed on the aircraft flight management computer. However, they had not used any other aircraft navigational systems to confirm their position in relation to Melbourne.

24 February 1991
Lufthansa
Boeing 747-400 D-ABTC

Photo by Aero Icarus from Zürich, Switzerland, via Wikimedia Commons

From the ATSB investigation.

The aircraft, which was approaching Melbourne Airport from the west, was radar vectored onto base leg and descended to 3000 feet.

At 1704 hours Melbourne Approach Control advised the crew that their position was nine miles south-west of the field. They were asked to advise when they had the runway in sight and also to say when the runway 34 lead in strobe lights were sighted.

Shortly after, the crew responded that they had the runway and strobe lights in sight. Approach Control gave the crew their position as six miles south-west of the field, told them to make a visual approach and not to descend below one thousand five hundred feet until established on final.

At 1706 hours the controller told the crew they were approaching the runway extended centre line. The Approach Controller noted that the aircraft was passing through the extended centre line and had not turned to line up with runway 34. He promptly issued instructions to the aircraft to climb to 2000 feet. At about the same stage the crew realised that the runway they had been looking at was too short for their operations and also decided to go around. Further radar vectors were given and the aircraft subsequently landed normally on runway 34 at Melbourne without any other problems.

Runway 35 at Essendon Airport was the runway sighted by the pilots. It does not have lead in strobe lights. The crew indicated they must have seen reflections near Essendon which they mistook for strobe lights.

On the approach the crew had seen a runway from a long way out, which they thought was the north/south runway for Melbourne Airport, but was in fact runway 35 at Essendon Airport. In the lighting conditions at the time they did not see Melbourne Airport, until on the go around.

On the approach the minimum height descended to was just over 1000 feet above the elevation of Essendon Airport.

8 August 1987
Singapore Airlines flight SQ31A
Boeing 747-200, 9V-SQM

Photo by Ted Quackenbush, via Wikimedia Commons

From the ATSB investigation.

On arrival in the Melbourne area the aircraft was vectored by Air Traffic Control (ATC) to a left base position for an approach to runway 34.

At a point 5 nautical miles (9.2 kilometres) south of the airport, and 1 mile (1.7 kilometres) to the left of the extended centreline of the runway, the aircraft was instructed to turn left to take up a north-easterly heading. The crew reported at this time that “we have the field visual.”

The aircraft was then instructed to make a visual approach, and to turn further left for a direct approach to the runway. The crew acknowledged this instruction, but the aircraft was observed to pass through the extended centreline. ATC advised the aircraft that it was now to the right of the centreline, and instructed it to turn left onto a north-westerly heading to intercept this line. The aircraft landed without further incident.

The Captain of the aircraft later advised that he was familiar with the Melbourne/Essendon area. Appropriate navigation aids had been selected to monitor the approach.

The Captain reported that he had initially mistaken Essendon for Melbourne, because the latter had been obscured by rain and low clouds. However, the crew became suspicious when the navigation aids did not confirm the visual indications. They were in the process of correcting the situation when ATC instructed the aircraft to turn to the left as it had passed the extended centreline. The crew had then sighted the Melbourne runway complex and had proceeded visually.

13 May 1987
Air New Zealand
Boeing 767-200ER, ZK-NBC

Photo by Ken Fielding, via Wikimedia Commons

From the ATSB investigation.

The aircraft was radar-vectored for an approach to Melbourne (Tullamarine) Runway 34. The flight crew reported they were “visual” when at 2000 feet and about 17 kilometres (9 nautical miles [nm]) south east of Melbourne.

The Approach Controller advised the flight of its radar position in relation to Melbourne and requested confirmation that the crew had Runway 34 in sight. When this was acknowledged, instructions were given for the flight to take up a heading of 320 degrees; to intercept the extended centre line of Runway 34 from this heading; and to make a visual approach.

Shortly afterwards the Tower Controller at Essendon Airport (5 nm south east of Melbourne) called the Melbourne Approach Controller and reported that a heavy aircraft was on approach for (Runway 35) Essendon.

The Approach Controller called the aircraft, requested its present altitude and, on being advised it was “through fifteen hundred” (feet), instructed the flight to climb to 2000 feet and turn left onto a heading of 320 degrees. He also advised that the aircraft was 7 nm south east of Melbourne and still two miles to the right of the runway centre line.

Shortly afterwards, the flight crew reported they were at 2000 feet and had “Runway 34 Melbourne in sight”. The aircraft was then cleared for a straight in approach and for transfer to the tower frequency. The aircraft landed without further incident.

The flight crew have confirmed that they initially turned towards Essendon but detected their error at about the time the Approach Controller instructed them to turn (back) to 320 degrees and to climb.

30 December 1985
Qantas flight QF36
Boeing 767-200, VH-EAJ

Photo by Ken Fielding, via Wikimedia Commons

From the ATSB investigation.

Air Traffic Control of the aircraft was being exercised by Melbourne Approach, which was directing the aircraft for a landing on Runway 27 at Tullamarine. The controller obtained approval from the Essendon controllers to vector QF36 through Essendon airspace.

The aircraft was progressively descended and when clearing the aircraft to descend to 2000 feet the controller advised the crew that the aircraft was 4 miles to the left of the runway extended centre line. The crew advised that they had visual contact with the ground and were then cleared to continue a visual approach.

Shortly afterwards, the crew sighted a runway and commenced a turn to the left, during which visibility reduced as the aircraft entered a rain shower.

On passing through the shower, the crew immediately realised that they had turned towards Essendon, and a right turn was carried out to continue tracking towards Tullamarine.

When the premature turn was commenced, it was observed on radar by the Approach controller and visually by both the Melbourne and Essendon Tower controllers. The Approach controller queried the aircraft intentions at about the same time as the crew commenced the turn back towards Tullamarine.

A normal landing was carried out about 3 minutes later.

19 June 1985
Garuda flight GA898
Boeing 747-200, PK-GSB

Photo by Peter Bakema, via Wikimedia Commons

From the ATSB investigation.

Garuda Flight 898, was being radar vectored by Melbourne Air Traffic Control (ATC) for a landing on runway 34 at Tullamarine Airport. Shortly after the pilot acknowledged an instruction to call Melbourne Tower the aircraft was seen to turn and descend as though making an approach to runway 35 at Essendon Airport.

The Melbourne Tower controller instructed the aircraft to climb to 3000 feet above mean sea level (AMSL), and a few seconds later the aircraft was seen to be established in this climb. After further radar vectors were given, an uneventful landing was carried out at Melbourne.

It was subsequently determined that the aircraft had descended to a minimum height of approximately 350 feet above the level of Essendon Airport, and was about 1.5 kilometres from the runway threshold before the climb was commenced.

So why is it confusing?

Until the 1960s Essendon Airport was Melbourne’s main international gateway.

Photo by Peter Hough, via Wikimedia Commons

But today it is mainly used by business jets and light aircraft.

But mid-sized jets such as the Fokker F70 can also safely operate into the airport.

From the 1,921 metre long east-west and 1,504 metre long north-south runways.

Google Earth

Which just so happen to be a similar orientation to the 2,286 metre long east-west and 3,657 metre long north-south runways at Melbourne Tullamarine.

Google Earth

This similarity has been noted by ATSB investigators.

There have been a number of instances where Essendon has been mistaken for Melbourne. The two airports are in close proximity and have similar runway configurations. In this instance the flight crew members were not very familiar with the Melbourne area or with the approach to Runway 34.

Who recommended the following back in 1987.

It is recommended that consideration be given to the following

– 1 Operators briefing the relevant flight crews on the real possibility of misidentifying the two airports.
– 2 Operators instructing flight crew to make full use of available radio aids on visual approaches to Melbourne.
– 3 The Department of Aviation providing visual and/or radio aids to assist ready identification of Runway 34, such as sequenced strobe lights leading to the threshold and/or an instrument approach facility to the south of the airport.

The largest aircraft ever to land at Essendon Airport were a handful of Boeing 707s back in the 1960s – I’d hate to see what would happen to a Boeing 747 that tried to do the same.

Spot the difference

One spotting feature is the different strobe lights pattern at each airport – Essendon Airport’s beacon flashes white every four seconds – Melbourne Airport’s beacon flashes alternate white/green.

While the aerodrome charts also feature a warning – “WARNING: Secondary airport (Essendon) 5NM south-east”.

Airservices Australia – Aerodrome Charts

And Melbourne Airport runway 34 now has a distinctive identifier – three sets of sequenced white strobe lights commencing 485 metres from the end of the runway, and aligned with runway 34 centreline.

Airservices Australia – Aerodrome Charts

Footnote: freeway confusion

A hazard for pilots landing at Essendon Airport at night is the freeways that surround the airport.

An issue raised by the ATSB in a 2017 investigation.

The airport has two runways aligned 17/35 and 08/26, and it is bounded on two sides by freeways with substantial amber lighting and well-lit residential areas. At night, the lights around the airport present a complex picture. The published aerodrome chart had a caution note describing that amber freeway lighting may confuse flight crews when attempting to identify runway 08/26 lighting.

Computer confusion too

On 10 March 2015 an AirAsia flight from Sydney to Malaysia ended up having to divert to Melbourne when the pilot entered the wrong initial coordinates into the inertial navigation system.

Photo by byeangel from Tsingtao, China, via Wikimedia Commons

And some unsourced stories

I found this story online referring a supposed incident around 1996.

About 5 years ago I was flying in the circuit in a little PA-28 at Moorabbin. It appeared to me that there was a B747 on long final. My flight instructor flicked the freq to Melbourne International, and sure enough, Alitalia 747 was lined up on the Moorabbin runway (which is less than 1.6 km long!) and complaining that he had visual but his navaids were all wrong. Melbourne Airport cleared him for a visual landing but then cancelled the clearance when they saw where he was on radar!

And this one from the 1970s.

They were also aware of anecdotal accounts of a DC-10 lining up to land on the Essendon runway sometime in the 70s, and being warned off at the last minute.

• An even longer list of mistaken approaches to Essendon Airport
• Boeing 737 at Essendon Airport? –
  Sydney Airport Message Board
• 100th Anniversary of Essendon Airport – Aviation Spotters Online
• Flightpaths and building heights around Melbourne Airports
• Wrong Runway, Wrong Airport, Wrong Country – OpsGroup
• Runway confusion – Flight Safety Australia

Post retrieved by 37.59.21.100 using Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux i686) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/30.0.1599.66 Safari/537.36

The post Pilots confusing Essendon Airport for Melbourne Airport appeared first on Waking up in Geelong.

Some history

Until the 1960s Essendon Airport was Melbourne’s main airport, seeing a wide range of piston-powered airliners.

Photo by Peter Hough, via Wikimedia Commons

But today mid-sized jets such as the Fokker F70 can also safely operate into the airport.

From a 1,921 metre long east-west and 1,504 metre long north-south runway.

Google Earth

And the candidates

Boeing 727 jets were the largest aircraft to operate normal passenger services into Essendon Airport during it’s heyday.

Essendon Airport postcard

With a maximum takeoff weight (MTOW) of 76,700 kg, length of 40.59 m, and wingspan of 32.92m.

Photo by clipperarctic, via Wikimedia Commons

The first 727 flew into Essendon Airport in 1964.

Australia’s domestic airlines entered the jet age on October 16, 1964 when a pair of Boeing 727-100s landed at Melbourne’s Essendon Airport.

As both airlines were required to bring their aircraft into the country at the same time, a coin was tossed to determine which airline should have the right to land first at Melbourne’s Essendon Airport, the headquarters of both airlines. Ansett-ANA won. VH-RME under the command of Capt A. Lovell landed first, with T.A.A.’s VH-TJA under the command of Capt D.A. Winch arriving a few minutes later.

A few years later Lyndon B. Johnson flew into Essendon onboard Air Force One – a Boeing C-137 Stratoliner – first on his 1966 tour of Australia, and again in 1967 for the funeral of Australian Prime Minister, Harold Holt.

Fairfax Media photo

It had MTOW of 148,325 kg, length of of 46.61 m, and wingspan of 44.42 m.

The press corp following the tour was transported onboard Boeing 707s operated by TWA and Pan Am.

Photo by AlainDurand, via Wikimedia Commons

With a MTOW of around 142,000 kg, length of 46.61 m and wingspan of 43.41 m.

And a US Air Force Lockheed C141 Starlifter also assisted with the tour logistics.

Photo by William Keith Nelson (Rosswnelson at English Wikipedia), via Wikimedia Commons

With a MTOW of 147,000 kg, length of 51.3 m and wingspan of 48.8 m.

And finally another odd move – in November 1984 Ansett flew Boeing 767-277 VH-RMH into Essendon Airport for an open day, but had to tow it to and from the runway!

With a MTOW of 142,900 kg, length of 48.51 m and wingspan of 47.57 m.

So who is the winner?

With a MTOW of 148,325 kg Air Force One was the heaviest aircraft to land at Essendon, but the Lockheed C141 Starlifter was the longest and widest to visit.

Footnote: Qantas 707s

Despite the “Boeing 707s were not permitted to operate from Essendon Airport” factoid that does the rounds, Qantas did fly into Melbourne’s old airport on a handful of occasions.

Photo by John Wheatley, via Wikimedia Commons

The first being a training flight with 707-138 VH-EBB from Sydney to Essendon Airport on 6 July 1959, the other being VH-EBA on 18 July 1964 to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the first Australian Air Mail flight.

And an oddball

In 1962 a Sud Aviation Caravelle VII flew into Essendon Airport on a sales tour of the Asia Pacific region.

Photo by Michel Gilliand, via Wikimedia Commons

With a maximum takeoff weight (MTOW) of 51,000 kg, length of 32 m, and wingspan of 34.3 m.

Further reading

• Essendon Airport photos from the 1967 presidential visit
• USAF C-141 StarLifters in Australia

Post retrieved by 37.59.21.100 using Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux i686) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/30.0.1599.66 Safari/537.36

The post What is the biggest aircraft to land at Essendon Airport? appeared first on Waking up in Geelong.

Trains

This month ten years ago I went for a trip around the Melbourne suburbs in a restored Diesel Electric Rail Motor operated by DERMPAV

We headed out to Upfield, Alamein and Belgrave, with a lunch stop at the VRI bar on the platform at Lilydale station.

Lilydale station is currently being rebuilt as part of the Level Crossing Removal Project, but the heritage station building is being retained.

In August 2011 electrification of the railway between Watergardens and Sunbury had started.

Along with the upgrade of Diggers Rest station.

Allowing the first electric train to Sunbury running in November 2012.

The South Morang Rail Extension Project was also underway, extending the railway 3.5 kilometres from Epping to South Morang.

Along with duplicating 5 kilometres of existing single track railway between Keon Park and Epping.

Opened in April 2021.

Planes

I paid a visit to the viewing area at Melbourne Airport, and Qantas was still flying 747s.

Virgin Australia was still called Virgin Blue, with red painted planes.

Except for the one 737 that was actually painted blue.

Virgin Blue is now Virgin Australia, with the Coronavirus pandemic seeing them go into voluntary administration, while Qantas retired their 747 fleet.

And on the water

I also headed down the bay to see the Queenscliff-Sorrento ferry.

I’d found out that the older ferry Peninsula Princess had been brought back into service.

So I wanted to go for a ride.

Along the way I found the Port Phillip Sea Pilots headed out the heads.

And a cargo ship following them out.

New roads

Big money was being spent on extending the Geelong Ring Road west from Waurn Ponds.

The new freeway passing the cement works.

To meet the two lane Princes Highway towards Winchelsea.

Opening to motorists in February 2013.

The flood prone Breakwater Bridge over the Barwon River was also being replaced.

A new high level bridge being built over both the river and the railway at a cost of $63 million.

Requiring the demolition of nine houses.

The new bridge opening to traffic in May 2012.

And scenes that are gone

Down at Frankston I found the abandoned Peninsula Centre.

It’s since been redeveloped into an apartment complex.

And the Ambassador Hotel – home of Melbourne’s cheapest apartment.

It was eventually demolished.

Over in Hawthorn I found the Motel California

Since demolished, and about to become apartments.

The Ford casting plant down at Geelong

Demolished following the end of local production by Ford Australia.

And this dirt track off Barwon Heads Road at Connewarre, south of Geelong.

Now part of the massive Warralily Estate at Armstrong Creek.

Footnote

Here you can find the rest of my ‘photos from ten years ago‘ series.

Post retrieved by 37.59.21.100 using Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux i686) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/30.0.1599.66 Safari/537.36

The post Photos from ten years ago: August 2011 appeared first on Waking up in Geelong.

Photo from The Age archives

And here is the same spot in 2013.

Pole 18 might still be there, but plenty of things have changed.

• Melbourne Airport replaced Essendon in 1970, with longer runways and larger terminals able to handle the explosion in air travel,
• The Two Airlines Policy was finally abolished in 1990 following deregulation of Australian domestic air travel,
• Ansett Australia changed logos a few times, until it went into liquidation in 2002,
• Essendon Airport was granted national heritage status in 2003.

But there the story ends – the terminal has since undergone a $4 million renovation completed in 2019, that converted much of the main arrival hall into office space.

Essendon Fields photo

It’s a sympathetic nod to the past, but the time capsule from the 1960s is now gone.

Further reading

• Essendon Airport listing in the Australian Heritage Database.

Post retrieved by 37.59.21.100 using Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux i686) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/30.0.1599.66 Safari/537.36

The post Essendon Airport then and now appeared first on Waking up in Geelong.

Scene by scene

The duo arrive into the terminal.

Walk up to the check-in counter.

And present their passports.

Once onboard, they take their seats in business class.

And consult the aircraft safety card, like every conscientious passenger.

Back in the economy class cabin, a young child sleeps.

They take to their air.

Then end back at the terminal.

As a couple are reunited.

So where did they film it?

This one was easy – someone over at the Australian Frequent Flyer forums answered it:

moa999
Dec 2, 2017

Was reportedly filmed mostly at AVV.

Including using ex-Qantas VH-EBU which is stored at Avalon and currently painted in Avalon Airport livery.

Avalon Airport management advertises the use of the airport as a filming location:

Avalon Airport offers a range of distinctive locations including:

• The passenger terminal inside and out
• The airside run-way (specific locations only)
• A retired jumbo jet – available for filming inside and out all year round.
• Australian bush settings including shrubbery, farmland and cattle
• Large hangars

The aircraft interiors in the clip were filmed onboard Qantas 747-300 VH-EBU “Nalanji Dreaming” – stored beside Avalon Airport’s hangar 6.

She was put into long term storage at Avalon Airport in 2005 and was used as a parts bin, but has since been repainted.

Much of the interior remains, including the cockpit.

Film Victoria

Galley.

Film Victoria

Business class cabin.

Film Victoria

And economy class cabin.

Film Victoria

The terminal scenes were filmed at the Jetstar check-in counters.

But Avalon Airport doesn’t have any jetbridges – which got me stumped.

Thankfully the Film Victoria website had this photo of a circular tunnel.

Film Victoria

But it isn’t a jetbridge – but a hallway.

Film Victoria

Located nowhere near the terminals, but attached to an office building between hangers 1 and 3.

Google Maps satellite imagery

An aerial photo footnote

In the background of the video clip an overhead view of an airport at night is presented.

It was far too busy looking to be Avalon Airport, so I started doing the rounds of world airport via Google Maps to try an find a match.

JFK in New York? No!
Frankfurt, German? No!
Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Washington? Still no.
Boston Logan? Nope!
Chicago O’Hare? No!

Turns out it was Newark Liberty International Airport, in New Jersey.

Google Maps satellite imagery

And what about the safety card?

Midway through a video clip, a closeup of a Ansett Australia branded A320 safety information card appears.

Ansett Australia did operate Airbus A320 jets, but the safety cards looked different.

Flarose Pty Ltd

So where did they get their safety card from – an alternate Ansett design, or was their logo just photoshopped in?

Post retrieved by 37.59.21.100 using Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux i686) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/30.0.1599.66 Safari/537.36

The post Location scouting Client Liaison’s “A Foreign Affair” appeared first on Waking up in Geelong.

The backstory

In 1952 the Commonwealth Government bought 1,754 hectares (4,333 acres) at Avalon to enable the expansion of the Government Aircraft Factories, which had outgrown their previous facilities at Fisherman’s Bend in inner Melbourne, due to the existing airstrip being too small to enable the operation of modern jet aircraft.

The English Electric Canberra light bomber was the first product to come off the production line.

Followed by the CA-27 Sabre, Mirage III and F/A-18 jet fighters.

These aircraft were assembled in a series of four hangars on the northern side of the airport.

National Archives of Australia item 30281903

Later rebranded as Aerospace Technologies of Australia (ASTA), in 1988 Avalon Airport branched out into the heavy maintenance of passenger jets, following the construction of a new hangar on the other side of the main taxiway.

Big enough to fit a Boeing 747 inside, the 8056m² hangar was completed in 22 weeks, and was big enough to fit an entire Boeing 747-400 aircraft inside, thanks to the 94 metre clear span, 85.7 metre length, 29 metre apex height and 6 metre eave height.

Photo via Bruno Gatzka

While in 1991 an increase in business saw hangar 5 extended to accommodate Boeing 747 aircraft.

Given a very tight 12 week construction period, Leighton Contractors met the challenge to upgrade the Hangar 5 maintenance facility at Avalon Airport in time to receive its first scheduled Boeing 747 aircraft. The work on Hangar 5 at Avalon included expanding the hangar space by about 2,000 m2 to a total of 9,000 m2.

Included in the contract were:

– 1,400 m 2 of concrete foundations, infill slabs and jacking pads to take the weight of a Boeing 747.
– 300 tonnes of structural steel for the roof and support structures.
– 60 tonnes of structural steel for the 800 m2 mezzanine floor.
– 4,900 m2 of roof and wall cladding.

The 21 metre extension at the front of the building was assembled on the ground in four sections, complete with electrical, mechanical, lighting and fire detection equipment. A 400 tonne hydraulic crane, one of only two in Australia at the time, took four days to lift the structure into place.

Which dramatically changed the look of the hangar.

In 1995 ASTA was privatised by the Commonwealth Government, with Avalon Airport following in 1997 when a 50-year lease was awarded to Linfox.

Enter Qantas

In 1998 Qantas opened a heavy maintenance facility at Avalon Airport, operating from the only two hangars big enough to fit a 747 – hangars 5 and 6.

Otherwise they needed to keep the hangar door open!

Photo by Pat Scala / The Age

But they were soon in need of more space, so in 2003 Qantas also extended hangar 4 to accommodate bigger aircraft, bringing the complex to what it looks like today.

In 2012 Qantas announced that it would be reducing its maintenance operations in Australia, and closed their operations at Avalon in March 2014.

So which hangar is which?

The Avalon Airport aerodrome chart doesn’t help – it lists four big hangars along the taxiway, an even bigger hangar on the eastern side, and a little dinky hangar at the bottom – six in total.

Hangar 6 is the big one.

And hangar 4 and 5 have the tall extensions to the front.

But what about hangars 1 through 3?

The Avalon Airport Master Plan dated 2015 gave me a clue:

Avalon contains six hangars, three of which are suitable for the Boeing 747 and other smaller aircraft (Hangars 4, 5 and 6).

Hangar 1 is suitable for aircraft such as the Boeing 737, Hangar 2 is approximately 2,000 square metres and is used as a component workshop or store, and Hangar 3 is currently used as a store

That places hangar 1 as the northern-most hangar.

But I finally found the answer in an Avalon Airport submission to Infrastructure Victoria.

So ‘hangar’ 2 is just a tin shed, with the hangars numbered 2, 1, 3, 4 then 5. Simple!

Footnote: the jumbo jet lurking in the background

She is ex-Qantas 747-300 VH-EBU ‘Nalanji Dreaming’.

Delivered to Qantas in 1985 and painted into the ‘Nalanji Dreaming’ livery in 1995, she was put into long term storage at Avalon Airport in 2005. Since stripped of parts, then repainted into a plain livery of blue body with red tail in 2008, it is now used as a movie set, with the exterior repainted into plain white with ‘Avalon Airport’ branding in 2016.

Post retrieved by 37.59.21.100 using Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux i686) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/30.0.1599.66 Safari/537.36

The post Aircraft hangars at Avalon Airport appeared first on Waking up in Geelong.

I only flew a handful of times when I was young, and never with Ansett – my main experience of Melbourne Airport being the hour long drive from Geelong to pick up relatives visiting from Hong Kong. It was on one of these trips that I got bored with waiting for their plane to arrive, so to waste time I ended up wandering over to the Ansett Australia terminal, presumably so I could peer out the windows towards the planes.

Unfortunately back then I didn’t take photos of anything and everything, so I have nothing to show for what I saw, but the magazine details what aircraft Ansett had in the fleet just before their demise.

It was Ansett’s Boeing 767 jets that helps contributed to their demise – the grounding of those aircraft in Easter 2001 led to the general public losing faith in the airline’s safety standards.

Ansett’s response in May 2001 was a $30m advertising campaign, featuring the Vanessa Amorosi song Shine:

The advertisement was filmed at Sydney Airport terminal 2.

The end came on 12 September 2001 when the airline was placed into voluntary administration. Multiple attempts were made to bring back the airliner as a going concern, but to no avail.

In May 2002 the former Ansett domestic terminal was sold back to Melbourne Airport for $25 million, with upstart airline Virgin Blue taking out a agreement to operate from the terminal.

A decade on, what is now called Terminal 3 still has the same Ansett patterned carpet on the ground.

Ansett fonts on the toilet doors.

And on the roof of the building is a forgotten ‘Ansett Air Show’ satellite dish.

Footnote

‘Ansett Air Show’ was the name of the airline’s in-flight news presentation – some further detail is here:

The SatLink digital distribution system was launched in 1994 and enables the delivery of twice daily news bulletins to all Ansett aircraft. Developed and built by AAV, SatLink was produced for the introduction of Ansett Air Show News. The system is activated from AAV’s Control Centre in South Melbourne and uses satellite facilities to uplink information, however SatLink also accommodates fibre optic or MDS technologies.

Post retrieved by 37.59.21.100 using Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux i686) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/30.0.1599.66 Safari/537.36

The post Remembering Ansett Australia appeared first on Waking up in Geelong.

Under their previous name of Tiger Airways they previously served the route, with the first flight on 14 February 2008 marking the start of one return flight daily seven days a week, until the grounding of the airline in 2011 resulted in the route being dropped.

I travelled on one of these early flights, and boarding the plane at Canberra was what I expected from a low cost carrier – walking out onto the tarmac then climbing a set of airstairs.

At least the weather was fine, and both legs of my journey were on time.

Post retrieved by 37.59.21.100 using Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux i686) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/30.0.1599.66 Safari/537.36

The post Tigerair flights to Canberra appeared first on Waking up in Geelong.