Qantas 747-400 VH-OJA Wollongong Arrival

The historic landing and delivery of VH-OJA to Illawara Regional Airport on a relatively short 1,819 metre runway.
The decommissioned Qantas 747 VH-OJA named 'City of Canberra' will be preserved by Historical Aircraft Restoration Society (HARS) after 25 years of service to Qantas Airways.This jet is famous for it's nonstop London Heathrow to Sydney flight in 1989 at the hands of Captain David Massy-Greene and his amazing crew.
She will become the first Boeing 747-400 to be put on public display anywhere in the world.
QF7474 landed at precisely 7:47am on Sunday, 8th March 2015 on Runway 16 from Sydney on a 12 minute flight.

[@anthonygambitta6220]

The Queen of the Skies has always been my favorite jet, she is a real beauty! Sad to see land one final time- she still had many more decades of flight life in her.

[@bryanmg8164]

She really is a beauty, and that was a masterful landing on such a short runway.

[@torrarosa7064]

The most iconic and beautiful airplane on the planet.. There will never be another one like this.. Compare that to A380.. the ugliest.. I leave it there.....

[@AUmarcus]

It also still holds the world record for the longest non stop flight....London to Sydney on one tank.

[@koalaforresttankeryschool6331]

@@AUmarcus Right about that

[@koalaforresttankeryschool6331]

And rip tyres and how did it Lan here

[@AussieBall-Animations2]

The 747 and A380 are my 2 favourite planes lol

[@plutusplutus]

This brought a tear to my eye! How proud the captain and crew must have felt to have been a part of such an historic delivery and to witness such a welcome home! How sad that such a beautiful specimen of aviation and one so aesthetically unmatched should be retired from the skies. The decommissioning of the 747 - the Queen of the Skies - should go down as one of history's most criminal acts!

[@4trainfan909]

It still flies at HARS

[@L8trm8AT]

@@4trainfan909 no It dont

[@dapto234]

@@4trainfan909 It wont fly again anywhere.all 4 engines for a start are now over the cycle hours ..so its not going anywhere.

[@godfearingheathen]

@@dapto234 Only one. Three of them will be removed and put back into service to be replaced with three retired engines.

[@boiragirules]

100%

[@petercasserly4126]

Screaming, bawling kids. Might as well have been on the flight, for that truly authentic touch.

[@rileymannion5301]

They're just sad to see the ol queen get retired

[@aviationin4k258]

@@rileymannion5301 lol true

[@Dokker62]

I always wonder why people take their kids to events like this. It's nervwrecking for both sides and the youngsters give a shit on what's happening.

[@NYRangers520]

- the boring in-flight movie!!😃😄😁✈️🎞️🍿

[@Dachrinnensaeufer]

My very first flight was QF6, Frankfurt - Sydney, January 12th 1993. And it was a brand new 747-400. Can't believe these beauties are retiring... :-(

[@theRudiolfock]

this plane saw many people and miles of our planet it's a good thank to preserve it for our kids understand how were planes...before the electric new generation who come...A350,787 and others...thank you for sharing.

[@deanadams475]

Me and my family flew on that plane from England to visit our Australian family in 1992, still and will always be my favourite plane. Beautiful

[@mariomar5519]

Le chef d'oeuvres de l'aviation le 747

[@flygwada971]

What a great filming, impressing to see her landing on such a short distance.Thanks for sharing.

[@vijgai3]

Magnificent aircraft. Looks way better than the A380

[@illawarransw594]

She is now resting at the Illawarra Regional Airport Museum, Albion Park. She is in very good hands with HARS historical aircraft restoration society.

[@gosst60]

Illawarra Nsw I was a member of H.A.R.S for 9 yrs there president Bob De-la Hunty is am awesome man, congrats to all at H.A.R.S.. for pull this off, i`de like to see the face on Ms Sonia McKay`s face now after she tried stopping the whole H.A.R.S thing from even starting...... IDIOT.............. Kev Watson... ex H.A.R.S and proud.......!!!!

[@freddylee3013]

I recognise VH-OJA. I had a plane model of that one I bought from in flight from Hong Kong to Sydney flight. Flight attendant on that flight was nice enough to ask permission for pilots to allow me to have a look at their cockpit. This is exactly the aircraft I've sat in flying from HK-SYD

[@BlueStar167]

fantastic view! thanks for filming the historical moment! :)

[@dennishatzidimitriou7899]

What a majestic Aeroplane never to be seen in flight again so sad the safest plane ever built so sad

[@jackdoe3889]

Amazing in many ways for sure but hardly the safest ever built.

[@patrickmollohan3082]

Many are still flying continuously as freighters,😁

[@jessicanolde7739]

747-400 FOREVER💖🛫😍⭐️

[@melissaallen4020]

Fantastic video and great to see her backed into her final resting place.

[@noelio67]

*The Queen of the Skies.......brilliant footage.....puts the hairs on my neck in upright position, it's bullshit how airlines are turning their backs now....even with the B747-8........hopefully Boeing in Seattle will make it really fuel efficient for the future....and bring back the Queen in all her glory, even eclipsing her heyday*

[@davidhugill4668]

I've done the detailed tour if this (now static display) aircraft. Not cheap but very worthwhile. It's for only 3 or 4 people at a time (book ahead!). An ex-Qantas engineer walks you around the aircraft, describing all sorts of arcane details; included climbing the ladder on the nose gear into the electronics bay (from where you can access the cabin itself; not that we did that); go into the cargo bays. Qantas has left many 100's of 1000's of $'s of avionics kit, still in operational order, in the electronics bay. An ex-Qantas flight attendant takes you through the cabin, showing the bits that passengers don't see (or don't see much of), including the crew rest area, which also houses the "black" box. Finally, an ex-Qantas pilot demonstrates the cockpit, each of us taking turns in the left seat. The cockpit is powered up, from a ground power unit, and using those avionics boxes I mentioned. We were able to use the flight director console, heading and altitude settings and also fire up the forward weather radar (nice graphics of the Illawarra escarpment - pretty hard clouds those!). 3 of the 4 engines are absent - still worth good money, so they have been reused and the nacelles weighed down with concrete to level the aircraft again. A really worthwhile tour for aircraft geeks. For a lesser amount, they do wing walks most (all?) weekends.

[@francollins4036]

I flew 747 to New York from London - I did not even know I was in it from take off to landing such was the skill of the crew.

[@HBWarren1]

Went to the air show there in 2019…toured the plane…lovely place for it to be showcased!

[@aviationvideos]

Extremely nice view of the Qantas 747 on final arrival. Great to see the large crowd in the background too. I feel lucky to have caught one of their 747's at London Stansted Airprot recently on a charter flight. Sad to see them disappearing but great to preserve through video. Enjoyed watching this.

[@aussieboi82]

Just brilliant. A great video of a great airline and superb aircraft.

[@V8CHRGD]

Beautiful bird, sad to see her retired. At least she wont be turned into scrap though.

[@soccermum6416]

I went on one yesterday. I was so suprised.

[@kylieryan7510]

V8CHRGD I think it's now a museums now and you can go every were in there

[@milz_4602]

Code Broken Arm yeah it is

[@tarkineWild]

Surprisingly the crickets enjoyed it and the only thing to ever happen in Wollongong

[@mikezinn7212]

tarkineWild - certainly the biggest!

[@acd1202]

Don't know about the only exciting thing to happen at Wollongong, wasn't there Korean guy giving joy rides in an unregistered Mig out of Wollongong in the 90s, until he got caught.

[@zannaduresident4934]

The 747 at Albian Park was the first one to fly none stop from heathrow England, to Sydney. It had full ranks and was tugged out to the runway Engines Off and Start up then go. It landed at Sydney with about 30 mins of fual remaining. It holds the record for first none stop flight Half Way around the World.

[@aimiekhan7737]

A plane which was favourite in EAST..WEST..NORTH AND SOUTH 😓 Will miss the pleasure of flying in it

[@PInk77W1]

I rode my bicycle across Aussie Wollongong is one of the prettiest places I have ever seen

[@UraFlight]

Awesome footage from this point

[@hotelgulf]

Not even the mighty 747 can drown out the sound of screaming crying kids.😮

[@GTRMO34]

Super filming!

[@baskecior1639]

Amazing. Love it!

[@emma13rulz]

Wow. ..This is awesome. ...I was there today and I have to say...out of most of the videos I have seen of this ....This is probably the best one yet. ....

[@MrPLC999]

VH-OJA is permanently retired and on display at the HARS museum at Albion Park, NSW, Australia

[@karenmacintosh7138]

I've seen it!

[@bassbuster9497]

Great Video, thanks for sharing this.

[@torrnado8131]

Fantastic big plane!

[@petxx8155]

Pure MAJESTY!!...BEAUTIFUL, ELEGANT, SEXY & CUTE at d same time!!👌SHE OWNED d skies...She OWNED OUR HEARTS...She OWNED D ENTHUSIASM of ATC & RUNWAYS Operators...plus...d LOVING CURIOSITY of our KIDS!!😨😨WELL DONE "MA'LADY"...PERFECTLY WELL DONE!!👌👏👏👏👍👍💖💓

[@steve-marsh]

This video will become more profound with each passing year

[@xihuantiyu]

It was such a bitter and sweet feeling. Boeing-747 is a great airplane. It is sad to see it gradually disappear from airport. But I am happy to see this big bird to live a retirement village in Wollongong instead of plane graveyard in American desert.

[@peminatgame2748]

wow see... so many people... awesome...

[@lutherlewis6792]

Now that is a pilot! Landing on a postage stamp.

[@snuggles03]

Biggest thing to hit that town in all of history

[@andylam73]

sad to see this beautiful queen of the sky got retired one after another. she has been with me since kid. real sad.

[@joelfleming9669]

Andy Lam a

[@samskeeter1]

I think they might have taken a few 747's out of mothballs due to Corvid 19. There were 2 Lufthansa ones side by side at Christchurch airport the other day, no doubt here to take Germans home. To see two side by side at that little airport let alone Lufthansa ones who never have come there before must have been a great sight.

[@richartrod]

Wow! It's a miracle that a 747 could safely land on such a ridiculously short runway for a plane of its size! It looks like it made a hard belly flop landing and pulled hard on the brakes and wing flaps to stop!

[@eightmountain9800]

First plane I boarded to LA, smooth ride.

[@jasonfrancis8711]

5:45 the last sound she will make.

[@cornucopiahouse4204]

Yeah, emotional, that sound she makes when the engines are turned off...

[@df446]

The engines will run again.

[@cameroncalvi-freeman9746]

What a beauty, it will be so sad to see her go

[@redhen334]

Hopefully qantas saves their last 747 that gets retired. It would be great to see 2 747-400s from qantas preserved.

[@df446]

Waste of money.

[@TARS..]

Landed at 7:47 truly majestic

[@slender_0434]

And it landed at 7:47 AM in real life.

[@lowerthenthelowestdeck]

It’s a short runway at Wollongong, I’m surprised they did this and could do a full power take off !! Good job Qantas

[@godfearingheathen]

Took a lot of planning to land a jumbo here. This jumbo could never take off again from here.

[@tomsamuelson8512]

@@godfearingheathen A lightly loaded 747 can take off in under 4,000 ft....seen it many times.

[@godfearingheathen]

@@tomsamuelson8512 Theoretically yes but the pavement at WOL is only suitable for aircraft with a maximum takeoff weight not exceeding 25 tonnes.

[@tomsamuelson8512]

@@godfearingheathen Didn't they fly a Connie out of this airport for several years? It weighs over 50 tons. The 747 has a LOT more tires to spread the weight around.....

[@andgate2000]

And it remains there to this day...at the museum.

[@gearsau]

Good video. Really captured the whole event. Well done :-)

[@Daddy-R]

9 hate how planes come to such a quick stop like use more runway

[@juliansutherland6364]

American ingenuity!

[@Skipbo000]

yeah from back in the day..... but like everything else in america, boeing will be owned by the chinese before the decade is out. why are you guys letting your country go to shit? i thought the u.s. was run "by the people."

[@PeterFruits-hm8rc]

I was the lead framie on this aircraft's cabin re-fit in 1998

[@BadenCityFire]

no words needed ! wooooow !

[@fredharte8677]

How eloquent! A dog couldn't have barked it better.

[@atika6811]

Szép landolás!

[@gordonc8335]

Yep No ILS , reverse thrust on only 2 inboard engines(due to runway width)

[@CaptainStevenMarkovich]

Super video. Great crowd. Subscribed

[@maticardoso5009]

Simplemente hermoso

[@razony]

Kind of remember when these 747's first took flight in the early 70's. Good Times! She looks to big to fit on that runway.

[@jeemotion1962]

I once flew with her from Frankfurt to Singapur. Great bird!

[@Sky360Phoenix]

I thought for a minute that John Travolta had popped his head out to wave to everybody. lol

[@miloguy]

Great laning ! wonder if he pressed Shift + F1 to shut the engines down !

[@miloguy]

who knows!!

[@dingle849]

lol FSX

[@kellytime30]

jajaja. That´s in fsx. by the way, I press Shift+k

[@sickgr33k]

thats acrually pretty impressive for something that big to land on such a short runway.... the bloody engines are hovering over the grass the wings are so wide lol

[@sickgr33k]

lol yeh they definetly would have done everything possible to make the aircraft as light and stop as fast as possible, we had a old 737 transported from perth to jandakot to be decomissioned pretty impressive seeing a 737 land on a 900m runway haha

[@OMGITSAPPLEZ]

i've spoken to one of the pilots who flew this 747 (not on this flight) he said that they deflated the tyres and loaded 20 tonnes of fuel and it actually stopped very quickly as is was quite light.

[@AEMoreira81]

Also, at least a dozen planes had to be relocated at HARS just to fit this 747 in.

[@acammaruko7083]

Awesome

[@radhaaubeeluck9691]

wounderfull

[@MrMFHORN]

Hard to believe this was six years ago

[@JSolisHD]

Sad day. Seeing it being pushbacked on the runway, never to turn its engines ON ever again... was a really sad day.

[@dapto234]

Not quite part of the deal with Qantas was they wanted at least 3 of the engines back because they still had good hours left on them at the time of arrival into HARS.So it stood at HARS at one stage with only 2 engines attached.....now all 4 engines are back on the aircraft having used up the hours on them.I actually have a photo of the port side (left) side of the aircraft showing the #2 engine removed.

[@automnsunflowers9802]

This plane missed me. That is so sad.

[@justathought5984]

Majestic. Sad to see the bird retire. Not cool to have her hitched to the tug. Let her go out on her own wheels.

[@cserhatiistvan4497]

fANTASTIC !!!!!!!!!!!

[@andgate2000]

Landing wasn’t the problem....taxing and parking was!

[@richardshiggins704]

Such majesty !

[@NCrist100]

I’ve never been on a 747. But while waiting for my Airbus A321 from Bucharest to Heathrow, had full view of 747s on take off runs. So much noise and little speed.

[@NCrist100]

Mind you, the 747 is a big plane and it’s size makes it seem slow. I saw many Airbus A321s make a lot of noise and seem to be slow. When I was in the A321s, the acceleration was great, was pushed back in my seat.

[@nehamaty]

All celebrating the arrival of the Queen of the Skies.

[@jeanmacagnan6367]

747.400 aeroporto marechal Rondon internacional Brasil Mato Grosso várzea grande 🛬🛬✈️✈️✈️✈️✈️👍👍👍👍👍👍👍🇧🇷👏

[@andgate2000]

Everything was moved and everyone for a mile after the end threshold was evacuated..and all services on ready. They did have doubts. The guys practiced on the sim for weeks.

[@krxbbyz3619]

andgate2000 what

[@df446]

I doubt the practiced for weeks.

[@johnpro2847]

Must try it on my microsoft simulator ....

[@peminatgame2748]

funtastic

[@ksmashgamer5748]

I assume the fire trucks / vehicles were there to make sure tires weren’t burning up due to that short landing?

[@aussiefirie]

They were there in case itcrashed due to the shortness of the runway.

[@carloschagas6699]

Lindíssimo pousom

[@andrewskinner8560]

Its a plane that has gone very far over the years. Its retirement for the old, in with the new.

[@donaldalbano6484]

i'd have to check my records but i think i flew this 747 from lax to sydney (or vice versa); a longreach.

[@AUmarcus]

All QF 744's had the "Longreach" moniker....they are distinguished by their other name....in this case "City of Canberra"....VH-OJA.

[@robertburdick4680]

So sad to hear those engines wind down.

[@andgate2000]

Qantas still pinches parts every now and then.

[@donizetesilva1088]

Boa. Noite Donizete Bragança Paulista sp Brasil

[@mistagrove4349]

Why does Air Force One get to stay and the rest of the 747 fleet get decommissioned

[@TweedSuit]

It can never leave there.

[@Mark_Ocain]

Must have come in on fairly dry tanks. That was one hell of a short field landing !!!

[@raptor1672]

I'm watching this at 747 am! lol

[@shivdevuppal.5713]

There is no BACK MIRROR in the Aeroplane ?

[@petersabolewsky4983]

That landing look so easy but took years of practice.

[@NoTaboos]

Hardly any fuel & no passengers or cargo; light as a feather. Very easy landing.

[@ingridfelicio6997]

Olá,gostaria de saber o que aconteceu com este avião. Pois não entendo o idioma inglês. Desde já agradeço. Abraços.

[@SteenPedersen]

Thanks for the video. Where will it be placed? The airport doesn't seem big enough to host a 744 without blocking taxiways?

[@Blake-de2nf]

Number one it's a 747. Number two, they're keeping it at the museum on static display.

[@gearsau]

Blake Henderson Actually, they do call them B744 ( B747-400 series )

[@SteenPedersen]

Blake Henderson On Google Earth the airport doesn't seem big enough? Where is the museum? At the airport? 744 is just an abbreviation for 747-400 :-)

[@Blake-de2nf]

The museum is at the airport, its called the H.A.R.S (historical aircraft restoration society), they had to move over ten planes to fit it in.

[@gosst60]

+Steen Pedersen Shes standing on the turnaround apron that's no longer used by Qantas for their regional flights to Melbourne , she is not blocking any taxi ways what so ever,, and the correct spec for her is a B747-438, the 38 is what Boeing assign as a code to each airline......38 is Qantas code....im an ex member of HARS of over 9 yrs.........thanks, K W.

[@zebski81]

Longreach maybe?

[@df446]

Not the shortest runway a 747 has landed on.

[@finleyfendt3750]

How short is it ?

[@notsureyou]

I wonder why the inboard slats weren't used

[@joeyslats31]

I never got to ride in one :(

[@faizbashaAirplanes]

RIP

[@harvesthawk5772]

Uh that is not landing on a "postage stamp", landing on a postage stamp would be an aircraft carrier.