Qantas Flight 63

[Overlandman]

A few years back I was on the summit of Barn Bluff (on a fine day) when I noticed a large 4 engine passenger jet fly overhead then turn towards the West Coast, since then I have seen it a few more times from Cradle & up on the Cirque.
This is a rare sight for Tasmania. Has anyone else seen this aircraft flying over Cradle & wondered where it was heading? Has anyone been on this flight?

With the advent of flightradar24.com, I have been able to track the aircraft down, it is Qantas 747, callsign QFA 63, that departs Sydney every morning at 10:30am heading to Johannesburg. Sometimes it tracks Sydney, Flinders Island, Devonport, over Cradle then South of Strahan on its way to South Africa. Other days I can see it track ( on flightradar24 ) between Adelaide & King Island. The flight track must have to do with the upper wind strength.
Regards Overlandman

[tasadam]

I am aware that some non-standard route areas are sometimes used for training flights. I have witnessed a couple over the years, didn't think much of it.

[wayno]

I"m strggling to find evidence of any flights over most of NZ
have the aussies pinched our planes as well as our people

[South_Aussie_Hiker]

Hi Overland Man , I will try and add some sense to your dilemma.

The shortest distance between two points on earth is not necessarily as simple as it seems.

You would have thought that to go from Sydney (latitude 33 south) to Johannesburg (latitude 25 South), you would fly very close to a westerly heading.

This is called a rhumb line track and without going into too much detail, represents a constant track on a map.

The shortest distance between two points on earth is called the great circle track, and is not a constant bearing. On a standard projection map, great circle tracks will appear to bend towards the poles. When departing Sydney for Joburg, the initial compass track would be 230 degrees (SW). Just before arriving in Joburg, the compass track would be 315 degrees (NW).

The best way to picture this is to consider two cities, city A (latitude 80N, longitude 90W) and city B (latitude 80N, longitude 90E). Because they both have the same latitude and are on "opposite" sides of the eath, you would think you fly due east or west to get there. However, if you fly straight over the pole (ie due north, over the pole, then due south) the distance is much much shorter!

You are also correct that winds play a part. It depends on the time of year, but generally upper winds in Australia are predominantly westerley with a strong jetstream (up to 200 knots at 30,000') dominating southern Australia, more so during winter. This means westerly flights may remain slightly north or south of the great circle track to minimise headwind.

The best way to make sense of this would be to get a large earth globe and pull a string tight between sydney and joburg. It will all make sense then.

I hope this hasn't confused you more

[wayno]

rules have recently changed on international flights as well. there is a maximum time as to how far away from an airport the international flights can get,
this was recently increase by a couple of hours.. it now enables more flights to fly longer distances through large oceans and over the poles so some flights have had the option of flying different paths to what they had been, there will be more flights able to fly right over the north pole for instance or further across the middle of the pacific ocean

[South_Aussie_Hiker]

Hi Wayno.

There have been recent increses to ETOPS times over the last few years, but these will not have affected the 747 (4 engines) detailed in the OP.

In fact, extended range operations have never been restrictive on three of four engine jets, but minor changes have been made to this, and they are soon be included in new legislation (I think from 2015 from memory).

[Azza]

I'm pretty sure I vaguely remember seeing a Jet flying high over South West Tasmania and thought it a bit strange.

The only conclusion I could come to was that it was likely a NZ to Perth flight, or something from NZ heading to South Africa.

[wayno]

there are no direct flights between nz and joberg. anyone flying to or from nz would have to transfer in aus.

[Overlandman]

I'm pretty sure I vaguely remember seeing a Jet flying high over South West Tasmania and thought it a bit strange.

The only conclusion I could come to was that it was likely a NZ to Perth flight, or something from NZ heading to South Africa.

Hi Azza,
The Air New Zealand, Christchurch / Perth flight tracks over Tassie's North West, so once again with upper wind levels this flight may travel over the South / South West of the State as well.
Regards Overlandman

[GerryDuke]

I was cruising the Pieman River in May 2010 when a jet few overhead heading west. The same flight perhaps.

1503-PIEMAN-RIVER-003.jpg (70.77 KiB) Viewed 8647 times

Another unusual sight that day was this little hovercraft.

1503-PIEMAN-RIVER-002.jpg (200.82 KiB) Viewed 8647 times

GD

[north-north-west]

... flights to fly longer distances through large oceans...

No thank you.

[wayno]

well the longer flights can mean less need for stopovers
with the boeing 787 jet you can fly longer distances to smaller airports than re normally served by long haul flights, missing out having to transit at major airports
a flight was scheduled to go between new zealand and houston texas, but has been cancelled do to a new airport taking away prospective passengers.... but in teh future similar flights are likely to be more common as more 787's come into service.

[north-north-west]

Ummmmm, it's the whole idea of flying THROUGH oceans that bothers me.