A380 in Chch

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Fred99

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#205134 31-Oct-2016 12:43

Emirates first scheduled flight of their A380 service to Chch touches down in about an hour.

Start of a daily service, Dubai via Sydney.

It's a nice clear day in Chch - I expect plane spotters will be out.

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#1661362 31-Oct-2016 12:46

Emirates A380s are fantastic went on one between DXD to LHR about 6 weeks back

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coffeebaron

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#1661364 31-Oct-2016 12:50

A wonder is @sbiddle has made the trip down there?

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Oblivian

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#1661368 31-Oct-2016 12:55

They allocated a parking and spotting area on the old Pound Rd extension. With 1 flaw.

No ladders or against the fence work to get photos. So its sit in yer car and watch material, and not take nice pics material. had a few already drive out and down the normal parts of the road where they can get a clear camera shot

With luck we will get a city flyover, I'm stuck at work in town under the RHapproach if they chose to do so.

Fred99

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#1661385 31-Oct-2016 13:18

I'd kind of forgotten about it 'til a US Globemaster flew over an hour or so back, heading South.

Brisk NE at the moment, so it could fly straight in, but it's 10 minutes ahead of schedule, so perhaps they'll put on a show.

Edit:

It flew straight in.

Leaves at 6:45pm. So that's about 8:30 or so Sydney time by the time you get out of the airport.

Oblivian

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#1661409 31-Oct-2016 13:50

Fred99:

I'd kind of forgotten about it 'til a US Globemaster flew over an hour or so back, heading South.

Brisk NE at the moment, so it could fly straight in, but it's 10 minutes ahead of schedule, so perhaps they'll put on a show.

It flew straight in.

Leaves at 6:45. I presume it's the same time every day, bit of a shame for just the Chch to Sydney leg - a bit of a late arrival if you're staying with friends.

yeha a bit dissapointing. No different to the awful <aussie port>-CHC legs we currently have to deal with.. midnight arrivals

Fred99

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#1661411 31-Oct-2016 13:55

Oblivian:

yeha a bit dissapointing. No different to the awful <aussie port>-CHC legs we currently have to deal with.. midnight arrivals

My oops - I edited my post. 6:45 departure from Chch actually works out OK to Sydney. I hate those Aus-> Chch legs arrival at midnight.

That used to top off my displeasure on business trips commencing leaving Chch at sparrow's f*rt, then stuck in traffic for two hours in Syd/Melb, then supposed to be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed for a productive day at work.

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#1661431 31-Oct-2016 14:27

I didn't realise their runway was capable of accommodating the beast!

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Oblivian

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#1661434 31-Oct-2016 14:38

joker97: I didn't realise their runway was capable of accommodating the beast!

Runway has been. Taxiway, not so much. They did need some more width strips to clean it up a bit however

We have been the alternate for AKL for some time, they had 2 divert here from AKL last year or before due FOG. It was quickly discovered some work was required to get things up to scratch since there was some terminal works in progress that hampered normal operations. Which has since been completed.

Now a new park slab has been made for the weight. And new gates are due before end of Dec to accommodate dual loading.

Fred99

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#1663813 4-Nov-2016 14:55

Oblivian:

joker97: I didn't realise their runway was capable of accommodating the beast!

Runway has been. Taxiway, not so much. They did need some more width strips to clean it up a bit however

We have been the alternate for AKL for some time, they had 2 divert here from AKL last year or before due FOG. It was quickly discovered some work was required to get things up to scratch since there was some terminal works in progress that hampered normal operations. Which has since been completed.

Now a new park slab has been made for the weight. And new gates are due before end of Dec to accommodate dual loading.

Must be too big to use the taxiway directly in front of the terminal, so to get from where it's parked to the end of the runway, they've been pulling out onto the main runway, running down that until they get it to the SE/NW runway, turning down that before turning again and heading down the taxiway. Potentially a bit disruptive I'd think - they're blocking the main runway for quite a few minutes while taxiing down it. Not that it's a very busy airport or has to deal with many A380s, but still - seems a bit messy.

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#1663850 4-Nov-2016 15:52

Mmmhmm.

Unconfirmed as the smallest airport to accommodate it of all its visiting ports. Bit wide/close to the domestic stands I thinks. No issue to the north

Fred99

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#1663892 4-Nov-2016 16:28

Oblivian:

Mmmhmm.

Unconfirmed as the smallest airport to accommodate it of all its visiting ports. Bit wide/close to the domestic stands I thinks. No issue to the north

It looks like (Google maps view) there's about 48m from the centre of the taxiway to to the edge on the terminal side. Aha - found something - A380 needs 107.5m overall taxiway clearance, so that's quite a few metres too narrow - they need about 54m from the centreline, and they've only got 48m. Presumably it was built to be wide enough for 747s, but the A380 wingspan is >10m wider than a 747.