Simple Trans Australian Desert Flight

[Aharon]

Shalom and greetings all my pals,

Presenting a nice simple trans Australia desert flight from YBAS Alice Springs Airport located 7 nautical miles south of Alice Springs in Northern Territory in Australia to YAYE Ayers Rock Airport located near Yulara about 20 minutes drive from Uluru (Ayers Rock).

Fully boarded with passengers and ready for push back



Starting engines after finished with push back



Nice wing view of very early Aussie morning!



Nice tail



Entering into runway 30 for more taxi and backtrack



Dig sunrise



Backtracking on beginning of runway 30



Sorry cannot resist early Aussie sunrise



Airborne and climbing to 14,000 ft for short hop flight with background view of Australian highway route number 87 also known as Stuart Highway



Leaving town landscape and its night street lights



Passing waters of Roe Creek



Cruising at 14,000 ft past Owen Spring Reserve desert



Dig nice sunrise



Look at nice Aussie desert landscape



Cruising at 14,000 displaying superb metallic shine on bottom of the plane



Cruising past clouds



Sun is up



It is hard to identify too many rivers in middle of huge Aussie desert that do not have waypoints but I think it is Finke river!



Don't you love authentic metallic shine?



Never knew that Aussie desert has more more more rivers while this plane passes Palmer river!



Descending!



Descending through clouds can be pure fun!





Approaching Lake Amadeus



Passing waters of Lake Amadeus



At 5,000 ft with background view of mountains that Google maps failed to identify for me



Making left turn while deploying landing gear on way to runway 13



On final runway approach with background view of mountains that Google maps did not identify for me



Seconds before touchdown



TOUCHDOWN!!!





Engaging reverse thrusters



Slowing down on runway 13



Exiting from runway 13 into taxiway E with background view of VERY FAMOUS rock



Arrived at gate



Thank you for viewing!! Stay tuned for next exciting flight!!

Regards.

Aharon

[Splitpin]

Well done indeed Nice aircraft, and a great flight.

[Adamski]

For some reason, the DC-9 has never been a favourite of mine ... BUT ...BUT ... BUT ... this is an *excellent* series of pics - well done!!!

[Jeffref]

Very nice
All that is missing at Ayers Rock is the 4X4 Landcruiser Trooper they used to use for airport transfers. I can still feel the bumps!

[Aharon]

Splitpin, Adamski, and Jeffref,

Thank to all of you for very kind words.

Adamski, I am glad I changed your mind about DC-9s hhahahahhahaha

Now, that made me wonder if any airline's DC-9 actually flew to New Zealand OR around New Zealand??

Regards,

Aharon

[Jeffref]

NAC (predecessor of ANZ) did look at the DC9 as a Vickers Viscount replacement but lost to the Boeing 737-200. As far as I know no other airline in NZ was ever interested. I think the relatively short range deterred international flights.

[Jeffref]

The other reason we did not see international DC9 flights could be the original limits on how far the aircraft could fly over water in the event of engine failure. Until ETOPS approved engines arrived no twin engine passenger aircraft could fly across the ditch, the Boeing 767 being the first to have this capability at least for NZ.

[Aharon]

Jeffref,

Thanks for kind answers. Surprised me that Aussie airlines did not think of using DC-9s for 2 hour hop flights between Norfolk island and New Zealand

Regards,

Aharon

[Aharon]

By the way, for all the viewers of this flight report, the mountains that Google map was unable to identify are called 4,000 ft high Olgas mountains according to one flight simmer who had flown to the YAYE Ayers Rock airport in real life many times.

[Jeffref]

The best view of the Olgas is from the top of Ayers Rock, but you will have to hurry. Climbing the Rock is being banned in October. I first flew there in 1980 in a F27 Friendship when the original airport was still being used. You can still see where it was on the north eastern side of Ayers Rock.

[Jeffref]

Jeffref,

Thanks for kind answers. Surprised me that Aussie airlines did not think of using DC-9s for 2 hour hop flights between Norfolk island and New Zealand

Regards,

Aharon

An issue could have been the lack of port facilities at Norfolk Island. The only way to get fuel was to lighter it from a ship anchored offshore or fly it in using space reserved for payload. The airport could cope with weekly flights but more frequent services would probably have created issues.

[Aharon]

Thanks for interesting explanations

Regards,

Aharon

[Jeffref]

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3 FSET + 3 (very) old photos

[Aharon]

WOW THAT IS AMAZING REAL LIFE RECREATION of my FSX flight!! AWESOME PHOTOS!!! Glad to see that FSX matches your photos' real world realism!

Regards,

Aharon