Historic Qantas 747-400 makes precision touchdown on its final journey
FOUR highly experienced pilots trained for more than 25 hours to prepare for this historic landing — the final flight of Qantas’ oldest 747 jet.
AVIATION enthusiasts gathered at Illawarra Regional Airport were treated to a spectacular sight this morning when a historic Qantas Boeing 747-400 jet made a precision touchdown on its way to its final resting place.
The flight, like the aircraft, was historic: it marked the first time a Boeing 747 had landed at the regional airport. A team of four highly experienced Qantas pilots trained for more than 25 hours in a flight simulator to prepare for the extremely short landing, which was executed flawlessly.
The specially numbered Qantas Flight 7474 — the airline’s first 747, celebrated for having flown the longest commercial flight — was delivered to its new home with the Historical Aircraft Restoration Society, where it will become the only 747-400 in the world to go on public display.
Qantas CEO Alan Joyce said donating the aircraft to the HARS museum would provide not only a great tourist attraction but an opportunity to preserve an important piece of aviation history.
“Having graced the pages of the record books, revolutionised air travel for Australians, marked a huge technical feat for Qantas and carried millions of passengers on their global adventures and home again, our B747-400 ‘City of Canberra’ is very deserving of a graceful retirement as the star attraction at one of Australia’s most prestigious aviation museums,” Mr Joyce said in a statement.
“As she takes her rightful place in aviation’s hall of fame at HARS, we’ll be reminded of her lasting legacy as a great aviation pioneer, a legacy that continues to inspire and drive Qantas’ spirit of innovation and world class airmanship and engineering today.”
Bob De La Hunty, President of the Historical Aircraft Restoration Society, said HARS was honoured to receive the gift. “Our members will be very proud to look after VH-OJA, particularly as so many of them have been part of the Qantas family too. We look forward to preserving this piece of Qantas history for future generations and have set our sights on building another hanger for it.”
Prior to delivery, the aircraft livery was given a ‘Permaguard’ coating to protect the paintwork for years to come, while the interior was given a “full spruce up”, with the only items removed being the Qantas Flight Operations manuals in the cockpit, the galley carts that store in-flight meals, and the fresh flowers in the lavatory.
QANTAS BOEING 747-400 “VH-OJA” FACTS
• 30 years in service
• 13,833 flights (excluding the final delivery flight)
• 106,154 flight hours
• 4,094,568 passengers carried
• This aircraft has flown nearly 85 million kilometres, which is equivalent to 110.2 return trips to the moon
• “VH-OJA” was Qantas’ first Boeing 747-400 aircraft and was named the City of Canberra
• It was delivered to Qantas on 11 August 1989 and made its debut flight on 16 August 1989 from London to Sydney
• On Thursday 17 August 1989, it set the record for having flown for the longest distance (non-stop London to Sydney) and time over distance by a commercial aircraft. The time over distance record still stands.
• The flight and subsequent media attention around the world at the time underlined Qantas’ role as the leader in long-range commercial aviation.
• All of Qantas’ B747-400 aircraft were named ‘Longreach’ as a tribute to our place of origin and to demonstrate the long-range of the aircraft.
Source: Qantas
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