Yeah a while ago it was the 772's doing NZ135-136 AKL-BNE-AKL but the run up to xmas they have all the available 744's doing that run.. Ant, I didnt think Canberra could take 744's? Our girls have been getting around!

Dale: It can handle the occasional 747, the problem is/was the runway would tear up with constant landings... they have recently upgraded the main runway and extended it too for more heavy's to be able to land...


Heres some of the 747's that have landed there in the past... Including a few very famous ones

http://tinyurl.com/2cv4864

Damn, teh Atlas Air (N412MC) would have crushed the runway, good its uprated!

The plane that did the most damage was Air Force 1 some years back, they did a lot of work on the runway after that.

Best plane was the Russian monster that almost didn't make it off the runway, and in fact he was on the dirt when he took off (just before ploughing through the Qbn/Canberra road).

Yeah I have seen a video of that big Russian Ilyushin 76 using ALL the runway.

Love that video of the 'vodka burner' Ant... crazy russians, they use up everything and then some more.

saves mowing that section of the field i guess..i managed to see one of the soon to be retired F-111's yesterday, but the lens that i was testing was failing to focus..

sadly i dont believe that a distant fuzzy dot counts for an image in the spotter's photo thread....

Oh yer, thats floating round the 'tube... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWtdtuspnoM

spectacular!

You probably noticed it, but that video was shot from the air control tower! The commentary is as good as the footage.

The road at the end of the runway that you can see as it takes off is a major arterial road from Canberra to eastern NSW.

If a large number of pax are moving forward from aft, it can have a tendancy to shift the CoG ever so slightly. Of course if this was a big weight shift (ie cargo) you would see a noticable rise in the aircraft's height from its original position, but the way they load/unload cargo & still having residual fuel left in the tanks it would be highly unlikely for the CoG to shift as dramatically as that.

There are some classic examples of dramatic CoG shift when loading/offloading cargo on jetphotos.net or airliners.net where the whole aircraft has tipped backwards. With most freighter aircraft ops nowadays, we use a tail stand at the back of the aircraft to prevent such a thing. Even if the CoG was to shift aft & make the aircraft tail heavy, the aircraft would simply squat on the tailstand to aid in balancing whilst on the ground.

Ah righto, thanks for that mate. Bit of a spur of the moment question.

There is a great photo on airliners.net taken at Sydney Mascot, of a Korean Air MD-11 freighter, it looks like it is rotating at takeoff.. but it is parked up at the bay

CLICKY to see it

Haha thats the one Sim..

If you look on airliners.net there are many other photos like that, 727s etc that have been loaded incorrectly.

Thanks guys, I've seen those pictures before but its still nice to have a look again

Played some golf today at Rowes Bay in Townsville, and I was watching an interesting assortment of military and domestic flights taking off right above me.

Early on, there were the usual A320's and 737's from numerous carriers. Then came a PC9, one of the grey Forward Observation ones with the smoke bomb canisters, shortly after that 2 F18's screamed past, then single F18's came every few minutes after that for quite some time. Then another PC9 took off and some more F18s.
Then I got back to school and was kicking the footy about when a AP-3C Orion flew over really low.

Pretty awesome day!

Bit of video to spice up the day - taken early friday morning after an exhausting long shift. Nothing like finishing off by watching the aircraft you have spent the last hour configuring its weight distribution & balance, startup/taxi then take off. Great feeling of completion Even better to cop a face full of hot jet blast at the end

Love it mate

took the camera for a drive yesterday....

I can't tell you all how amazing those photots and videos are. I could almost smell them.

I know the physics of getting those big girls up in the air, but, holey moley, they still give me goose bumps when they do, still shots or video, doesn't matter.

I've had a very enjoyable half an hour drooling over all those shots, thanks guys.