Round The World and other travels

Flight Log 7 : DJ1155

Launceston (LST) - Sydney (SYD)

As on the way out to Tasmania, we had across-the-aisle seats towards the rear of the aircraft, so boarding was by the rear set of steps. We had been surprised to observe that today's aircraft, named Butterfly Blue, was a 737-800 rather than the scheduled -700 series. Despite the larger capacity, it quickly became apparent that the flight was going to be near-full, suggesting that the airline had some operational flexibility in being able to match the aircraft to the number of bookings achieved. We appeared to be ready to go well before the scheduled departure time and I began to get a bad feeling when nothing seemed to be happening to indicate an imminent departure. At 1513, the Captain announced that there was an error in the paperwork and that we'd be underway just as soon as it was corrected. This turned out to be more or less immediately and, at this small airport, we managed to be airborne less than four minutes after the announcement.

Once established in the cruise, there was a further announcement informing us that the expected flight time was 1hr 22mins, so that we should manage an on-time arrival. Wild weather was forecast, but it wasn't expected to be a factor in landing, other than giving us a few bumps to contend with. I didn't buy anything to eat or drink on this occasion; I'd had a good lunch and I was saving myself for an even better dinner!

The seat belt signs came on at 1600 due to turbulence and stayed on for the remainder of the flight. We overflew Canberra, crossed the New South Wales coast south of Sydney, executed a U-turn to the left and made our approach flying low over the sea. I recalled doing something similar, in nicer weather, when I first flew into Sydney in 1993 on a British Airways Boeing 747. As promised, our arrival was more or less on-time.

Home | Major Trips | Short Trips | About this site | Index