news, local-news, qantas, albion park, jumbo, boeing 747

QANTAS says it plans to land its retired Boeing 747-400 jumbo jet at the Illawarra Regional Airport on Sunday, March 8, weather permitting. The Boeing 747-400, VH-OJA aircraft has been given to the Historical Aviation Restoration Society (HARS) to preserve its place in aviation history. The aircraft, known as City of Canberra, made Australian aviation and Qantas history in 1989 for the longest non-stop commercial flight from London to Sydney in 20 hours, 9 minutes and 5 seconds – a record that still stands. The jumbo jet is expected to make a final 10-minute flight from Mascot and land at Albion Park at 7.50am, however, the arrival time will be weather-dependent. Perimeter roads around the Illawarra Regional Airport will be subject to closures on the day. The airport is owned by Shellharbour City Council. Shellharbour councillors have endorsed a lease for a site near the HARS hangar where the aircraft will rest, though council staff still need to formally approve the landing. ‘‘Final documents are currently being tendered and all necessary approvals have been supplied by the relevant emergency and regulatory authorities,’’ a Shellharbour City Council spokeswoman said. Qantas said the aircraft would weigh 192 tonnes on arrival, but will land on a runway that has a 25-tonne limit. HARS said the landing would not be an issue as the weight would be distributed over 16 wheels, although concerns have been raised that the plane could damage the pavement as it taxis to its resting place on concrete pads near the old terminal building which was destroyed by fire in May 2013. ‘‘While the weight of the aircraft is considerable, the measure applied to assess the capacity to land the 747 is based on the pressure applied by each wheel,’’ the spokeswoman said. ‘‘Council is satisfied that the landing meets the necessary requirements as per the advice of all external agencies involved.’’

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