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Well, as Manta mentioned on his A380 thread (http://www.dslrusers.net/viewtopic.php?t=11333), I was lucky enough to be in the hangar for the processing of the A380 at QANTAS Hangar 3 in Brisbane this morning. We were quite busy at times, but there were also a few "standing around" moments while we waited for things to happen. The QANTAS and Airbus staff were happy for us to take as many pics as we wanted, up until work on the aircraft commenced. I apologise that the quality of the images aren't as good as some other people's - I'm posting them mainly for interest, although if you have some constructive comments to make I'd be more than happy!

Click Thumbnails for larger versions!

Empty QANTAS Hangar.


QANTAS Hangar from the side.


Taxiing


Under Tow


Snout


Aircraft Boarding (I am 2nd Yellow vest ascending the stairs ) People at the top are Airbus staff who opened the door - they had their cameraman with them.


Big Nose


Underbelly


Rolls Royce Powerhouse


Retreads (not!)


F-WOWW


Hangared

Great shots K! You were certainly on-the-spot.

I take it you guys work for Qantas or are PJs?

No, I work for a border agency. I was really lucky to be able to go over today - we only sent 6 staff!
There were no PJ's in the hangar today.

Yep, so basically officials from Qantas, Quarantine (that's you right?), CASA/FAA etc. Perks of the job I guess

Thanks for the great snaps here Kinetic, all this aircraft due to Benooli's law of flight! I bet old Benuli never envisaged a creature this big, neither did the Wright Bros!

Max

All this down to the law of flight provided by us from mother nature
Birds have a lot to do with the fact that we're flying. I'm sure many were studied, and some of them killed to study how they achieve flight.

Sorry, was watching eagles flying today and was a bit gobsmacked as to how they manage to achieve reasonabe forward motion in a strong headwind with minimal wing movement. They seem to have an amazing sense of navigating wind currents.

kipper wrote:All this down to the law of flight provided by us from mother nature
Birds have a lot to do with the fact that we're flying. I'm sure many were studied, and some of them killed to study how they achieve flight.

Sorry, was watching eagles flying today and was a bit gobsmacked as to how they manage to achieve reasonabe forward motion in a strong headwind with minimal wing movement. They seem to have an amazing sense of navigating wind currents.

Darryl, did you know that, apparently (according to Reader's Digest bird book) Rainbow Lorikeets never glide, they always have to move their wings. Just thought you'd like to know.

Max

kipper wrote:Yep, so basically officials from Qantas, Quarantine (that's you right?), CASA/FAA etc. Perks of the job I guess

We don't think too much about perks of the job when we're up to our armpits in maggot-infested dried fish or some of the other horrendous food stuffs people bring in! The job certainly has its ups and downs!

kipper wrote:Sorry, was watching eagles flying today and was a bit gobsmacked as to how they manage to achieve reasonabe forward motion in a strong headwind with minimal wing movement. They seem to have an amazing sense of navigating wind currents.

Seeing Birds around aircraft always cracks me up! It's like they're thumbing their noses at us! (or is that thumbing their beaks at us? )

Simon, so you're in Quarantine aswell. For some reason from your posts I thought you worked for Qantas.

kipper wrote:Simon, so you're in Quarantine aswell. For some reason from your posts I thought you worked for Qantas.

Quaint-arse? No, not us!

Nah - we have to pay full price for our air fares!

Kinetic, BlacknStormy and I all work for Quarantine at Brisbane International, though BlacknStormy shares her time between AQIS and her wildlife consultancy work.

And, some of us actually like it when we are up to our armpits in maggoty infested fish ... I call it fun

Cool photos Kinetic (especially of the reflections on the nose) but I must admit, I'm still really really happy I didn't have to work today

Actually Rel, there were only 35 pax on board, and not much "viewer" traffic either.

For anyone that cares, the A380 took off safely this morning, headed for Sydney. I expect lots of great shots from you Sydneyites!!!!

The weather was no good for ballooning this morning so I snapped a couple of happies of the big bird in its new (partial) QANTAS livery.

Hey Steve,
Great shots! I went out to watch the lift off this morning, but I took video instead of stills. She's certainly an impressive beast, I think the QANTAS logos looked good - it will look great with the kanga tail!

Nice stuff Steve - I was out there too and, judging by your position, in a similar location. I'm just downloading mine now..
Some are similiar to yours (eg the Gate 76 ones) but I got a different angle on the low pressure condensation clouds - didn't THAT look awesome!

Yay for more take off shots!!! Hurry up and post Manta!!!!

Okay - here a couple of mine (2 out of 74!)

Shooting straight towards the sun was a pain...

Cool shots! That first pic makes the wings appear to have some sort of Aura. ooooo.

One more...

Here are my only two decent shots from this morning. I didn't even ATTEMPT to take "take off" pics (too lazy and too crappy a photographer).

Sorry, I am too lazy to do the Thumbnail thing at the moment.

I love that last shot Manta - good capture of the water vapour out the back. (Almost reminds me of the sound barrier wave images)

Thanks Kinetic - your shots - considering they came from a Point & Shoot are really sharp - good stuff! You handled the tricky exposure well too.
I like the panorama crop of the first one.

The morning sun, the colouring and the conditions certainly made it worthwhile getting up and going out there.

I expect to see some fabulous shots from Sydney coming through very soon...but I doubt many will come near the ones from the chase plane that shadowed the Airbus as it left Brissy. I assume it will have video and stills running a mile a minute throughout the journey but they'll really crank it up once Sydney Harbour lies below.

Insert jealousy here.

Seems we were all around the same spot... (I took out a couple of light poles though)

Seems like we were all wandering the same piece of fenceline this morning! She was truly impressive on launch with that low pressure cloud enveloping her.
Did you spot how close the chase plane was when they turned? Distances can be difficult to judge but it sure as heck looked like it was less that an A380 wingspan
I had a VHF with me and was listening to the guys. They very nearly had to delay the Air Pacific & Singapore flights that arrived before it left.

They were certainly very close but they were well practiced by that stage by the looks of their synchronisation along the runway as big brother took off. Very Roulette-ish.

Oh yes very well practiced.

Chase pilot to A380

30 seconds to brake release
20
15, Select takeoff power ( He probably knew that)
10
5
Brake release

I wonder if the chase pilot is on a better pay packet as he seems to be calling the shots!

one lot speaking English......... one lot speaking French...... oui, non ??

kinetic wrote:one lot speaking English......... one lot speaking French...... oui, non ??

Ha! (Or is it "Le Ha!")