First Revenue Passenger Flight of Airbus A380
"Singapore Three Eight Zero, let me
welcome you to Sydney, Runway 34L cleared to land," said the Sydney air traffic
controller at 5:22pm this evening, 25 October 2007, as the inaugural flight of
the Airbus A380 touched down directly in front of us. I wonder if the
controllers drew straws to decide who would get to be the controller on duty for
this shift and how many times he practiced saying that in the mirror this
morning. Meanwhile, one of my fellow crew members sitting behind me is talking
over my shoulder and giving me instructions (left, right, a little more right,
etc) to keep me on the taxiway centerline while I steer with my feet rather than
the tiller so I can take these few snapshots.
Due to low ceilings and poor visibility, the passengers who paid a combined
total in excess of $1.4Million on eBay (charity fund raiser) for their passage
today did not get the privilege of the planned fly-by down Sydney Harbour over
the famous coat hanger bridge and opera house.
Anybody who knows me knows that "if it's not Boeing, I'm not going."
Kidding aside, this IS a piece of aviation history so we have to pay respect at
least for a minute....then we can laugh at the runway being shut down for a few
minutes while a pair of airport vehicles did a post landing debris inspection
(unfortunately not pictured) and we can resume having a laugh at all of its
delays and setbacks.
My apologies for the fuzzy photos...I took them through the windshield of my
BOEING
whilst taxiing out for departure and double apologies to all the spectators off
to the right side (pictured below) that got to take photos of our plane as we
taxied by at the unintended precise moment, blocking their view of the
touchdown.
Hmmm....I wonder why the #1 engine above is NOT in reverse? Must have been dispatched with it pinned shut!! (note: found out later it was intentionally not used on account of not wanting to kick up dust and debris since it hangs out close to the edge of the runway)
...and thanks to Mike Petrucci, here is a snapshot from a BBC News video. In the distance you can see me taxiing out for departure.
and here is a must-see trip report from a guy (not me) who was on the flight the next day.....