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View Full Version : Irrelevant nostalgia - Ansett 727 in 1990


glekichi
8th Jan 2006, 09:44
This might be totally inappropriate on this forum but, well, a few beers (as pilots do) and here goes...

Looking at a picture of a 727 posted on pprune today reminded me of a special moment of my childhood. A visit to the cockpit of a 727 on a trip home after visiting relatives in New Zealand.

Its funny, my parents dont remember the trip much....

Distictly remember the filghts from:

Dunedin to Christchurch: 737-[must have been 200] - was sitting just behind the wing and distinctly remember the noise and watching in awe as the reverse thrust activated, moving a large portion of engine cowling. Not to mention the scenery between the clouds along the way.

Christchurch to Melbourne: 75or67 - remember reading the pamhlet going on about how special the plane was becuase the 757 and 767 had such similar cockpits reducing training costs or something.

Melbourne to Adelaide: 727 - The pilots allowed me to visit the cockpit for a while during the cruise. Amazing view at dusk. Young me was dissappointed it wasnt going 1000km/h... lol Back in my seat I remember landing into the night lights of Adelaide after leaving Melbourne during the day ... distinctly remember leaving through the rear stairs and walking the tarmac... hehe.

Amazing to think... wow.. here I am back in DN.. approaching my CPL... I was obviously an aeroplane nut even then, 15 years ago, but surely those little things were what helped me get here...

Wonder if those same pilots might even be reading this forum...

Such a shame they cant do that sort of thing these days...

[Come to think of it... was acutally probably Australian Airlines, not Ansett......]

john_tullamarine
8th Jan 2006, 11:50
Memories, indeed ... a couple of years prior to joining AN (quite a bit before your ride), I was working in Melbourne as an engineer and had to travel up to Sydney for whatever reason ... TAA ... and managed to organise a jumpseat ride for the whole trip in advance on a -100 flown by the father (coincidentally) of a colleague who had graduated a year or two prior to me .. first time in an airliner and I thought all my Christmases had come at once ... didn't get that sensation again until my first 767 jumpseat ride.
Best luck with your career aspirations ... it gets real good when you get to drive one yourself.