Among other things, the inaugural 787 to Hobart!
First up, I’d like to apologise for my brief hiatus, I’ve been a little busy over the past weeks, but should be back to regular posting now. It has been an exciting few weeks for spotters at Hobart, with news of Cathay Pacific freight services to start later this month, as well as a few rare charters, and the inaugural visit of a Boeing 787 Dreamliner on Sunday. Unfortunately I missed the Q400 that came in during the week, but I still have plenty of photos to share.
Early Tuesday morning last week, I managed to quickly pop by the airport to get a few quick pictures of visiting RAAF Airbus A330-200MRTT A39-005. The 8 year old MRTT (also known as the KC-30A) had arrived the evening before direct from Townsville with a load of ADF personnel to run the hotel quarantine program, in anticipation of the Indian repatriation flights over the festive period.
Just as I was leaving I managed to snap a picture of 1994 built Kawasaki BK117 VH-EMS, operated by Rotorlift for Westpac Rescue, just about to settle down onto the grass.
A few days later, on Sunday, I headed back down to the airport, along with at least around 70 other people to see the first ever visit of a Boeing 787 Dreamliner to Hobart. Qantas’ VH-ZNK ‘Gangurru’ had that honor, touching down at 11:27pm AEST, with around 120 Australians direct from Delhi Indira Gandhi International Airport. As you can see from the cover picture on this post, control tower hill was incredibly busy, with a similar situation down at the dunes, probably the largest turnout for an aircraft since the QF 747 in 2018, or perhaps even Xi Jinping’s arrival back in 2014 onboard an Air China Boeing 737!
Soon after -ZNK’s arrival Jetstar Airbus A320-200 VH-VQM slipped in, almost unnoticed, coming in along taxiway C. -VQM is now one of the oldest birds in JQs fleet, at just over 15 years old.
While I was trying to get some different angles of the 787, I noticed this lovely Pilatus PC-12, VH-TCP. The eight year old Swiss built corporate prop is owned by Tasmanian based tech millionaire, Simon Hackett. Interestingly, this aircraft has become my most popular photo ever on Instagram, seen by over 400 people at the time of writing!
VH-JHJ, a 1978 built Cessna 182R was also hidden behind a hangar in this fairly neutral livery.
Just before heading home I managed to snap a few pictures of this Qantas Boeing 737-800, VH-VZS taking off to Melbourne, where I’ll be headed soon, albeit on a more interesting aircraft, and a far more interesting route! After much delay, my Singapore Airlines Airbus A380 trip report will be uploaded this Sunday, so keep and eye out!