AN-124 into Williamtown

[Nick W]

I just heard there will be an Antonov AN-124 arriving into Newcastle on Monday 4th August. I am not to sure on a time yet but i will get back to you. I hope some people can come out and see this giant :D

[Stephen Brown]

I will be THERE


oooo I'm getting all tingly just thinking about it...Please please please Runway 30 for operations that day please pleaseplease

[Andrew McLaughlin]

Browneye - if you can get round to the BAE hangar after it lands and get pics of the F/A-18 being unloaded, I'd be very grateful! :D

[Nick W]

I will be out on the apron hopefully taking some pics so i will send some to you if you want Andrew? ;)
Ohh and Stephen the last couple of days it has been favouring 30 so i hope it favours us

[Stephen Brown]

Roger that Andrew.....

[Andrew McLaughlin]

Thanks guys

[Ahmet H]

Please be after 3PM!:( Can't leave work till then!

[Nick W]

Around 8am she should be coming in guys :D
I'll be there at 7:30 hope to catch up with some off you

[Stephen Brown]

Roger that Nick, thanks for time heads up.

Can you confirm its going to the east apron or BAE?

[Nick W]

Roger that Nick, thanks for time heads up.

Can you confirm its going to the east apron or BAE?

East Apron where the whole world can see her:D

[Chris Primmer]

Hey Guys,
A bit late I know but can confirm that An-124 will be at Williamtown at 8.30am Monday Morning. Remember though the last one was due at 10am and came in at 8.45am

ChrisP

[Stephen Brown]

See you there Chris, I'm looking at a 7-7.30 arrival for myself

[Ahmet H]

Any ideas when it will be leaving then?

[Nick W]

It should be leaving around lunch time guys :D If anyone wants an actual arrival time send me your mobile number and i will tell you (on monday)

[Chris Primmer]

This was the one earlier this year.

7th Of May 2008

[Nick W]

This was the one earlier this year.

7th Of May 2008

Hopefully we get a different AN-124 this time :) the weather says fine for monday at this stage

[Stephen Brown]

Well we did get a different one. Lovely Blue skies greeting the arrival at about 8.50am. Loaded two hornets with some bits and humans for extras and departed for Brisbane.

Pics to follow soon.

Thanks to Nick for the updates on arrival and information.

[Chris Primmer]

Hey Steve,
Hope you got some good shots from the road. I'm very happy with mine. Now for another one in September.

Also thanks to Fighterworld for letting me in early.

Hornets to go 105? and 37?

ChrisP

[Nick W]

Hey Steve,
Hope you got some good shots from the road. I'm very happy with mine. Now for another one in September.

Also thanks to Fighterworld for letting me in early.

Hornets to go 105? and 37?

ChrisP

Hey Chris did u get out onto the apron?

[Mick.B]

Andrew you might be able to answer this. Why are the 2 Hornets being loaded. Centre barrel work or upgrade. ? Also where are they off to ?

[Nick W]

Hey Mick i am pretty sure they are heading to canada, i know that she came from Honolulu.

Here's a nose shot of her "neal down mr antonov" i call this one lol please post up yours
http://i215.photobucket.com/albums/cc109/Nick_Da/DSC_0070.jpg

[Rhys Xanthis]

Something to do with fighter upgrades in Canada i think...it was in a recent Aus Aviation mag..

[Bob C]

F/A18 centre barrel replacement in Canada ?

[Gerard M]

May be a bit early, but does anyone know when they are due back? And will the An-124 bring them back?

Cheers.

[Chris Primmer]

Hey Nick,

No I didn't mate as I had to get home as I had some tradesman doing some work installing a Gas meter to the house. Got home and found that they had taken out a water main and some 5 hours after contacting the water board someone showed up to turn it off!

So missed the departure as well!

I trust you got plenty of photos?

Also any ideas on the September arrival?

ChrisP

[Stephen Brown]

Hey Folks,

Here are two of mine from today...

http://www.jetphotos.net/viewqueued_b.php?id=2052147

http://www.jetphotos.net/viewqueued_b.php?id=2052151

P.S. I'll change the links when they get screened

Can confirm it was 105 and 37. And they are definitely going for the centre barrel replacement.

Sign from one of the boxes loaded on the plane attached

[damien b]

Great photo's guys.

[Nick W]

Great pictures guys especially yours Stephen i like the one of it taxiing in :D
No date set on the flight back yet Chris but i can confirm September
http://i215.photobucket.com/albums/cc109/Nick_Da/DSC_0076.jpg

My Fav (http://i215.photobucket.com/albums/cc109/Nick_Da/DSC_0074-1.jpg)

http://i215.photobucket.com/albums/cc109/Nick_Da/DSC_0071.jpg

Brindabella on finals in the background (http://i215.photobucket.com/albums/cc109/Nick_Da/DSC_0077.jpg)

[Michael Br]

Nice shots.

What a big fat cow of an aircraft.

[Andrew McLaughlin]

The Hornets are off to L3 at Mirabel in Toronto for replacement of their Centre Barrels.

Currently nine jets are contracted for and I think there are 15+25 options, taking the planned total to up to 49, although I doubt anywhere near that many will eventually be done.

Cheers

[Nigel C]

Pardon the ignorance, but what are the centre barrels?

[damien b]

Pardon the ignorance, but what are the centre barrels?


Essentially it is the 'heart' of the Hornets fuselage. It is where the wings and forward fuselage connect onto.

I have heard through the grapevine that they may only do 15 aircraft.

[Andrew McLaughlin]

Pardon the ignorance, but what are the centre barrels?

Just to elaborate on what Damien said...

The centre barrel (CB) is made up of three major internal structural components through which the engine air passes but also onto which the aircraft's wings, undercarriage, engines and forward fuselage are attached.

If you were looking at a Hornet side on, it would go from just behind the engine intakes to a point just past the leading edge of the vertical stabiliser.

In US Navy Hornets, the CBs have taken a real beating around the undercarriage area thanks to the heavy landings aboard aircraft carriers, whereas our Hornets are suffering more in the wing attachment areas because the RAAF has a greater emphasis on air-to-air combat.

These components are built by Northrop Grumman for Boeing (or in our case, L3), and it is a HUGE operation to basically strip a Hornet down to replace the CB, requiring more than 20,000 separate components for each aircraft!

Cheers

[Mark D]

Just to elaborate on what Damien said...

The centre barrel (CB) is made up of three major internal structural components through which the engine air passes but also onto which the aircraft's wings, undercarriage, engines and forward fuselage are attached.

Thanks for that, I was thinking ... gee that's a big effort to replace a gun !!

[Gerard M]

Is the An-124 coming back any time soon?

[Stephen Brown]

Those pics of mine are now out of the queue and into the database. They can now be found here (http://www.jetphotos.net/showphotos.php?aircraft=-2&airline=-2&country=-2&photog=14474&category=-2&year=-2&keywordrange=reg&keywordlimiter=1&keywords=RA-82080&sort=1&genre=1&size=-2&mainsearch=search&displaymode=1&display=15).

[Nick W]

Is the An-124 coming back any time soon?

Next month i hope

[Philip Argy]

Essentially it is the 'heart' of the Hornets fuselage. It is where the wings and forward fuselage connect onto.

I have heard through the grapevine that they may only do 15 aircraft.


News released today suggests that only 10 may need to be repaired:



Hornet repair bill could fall by $500 million: Fitzgibbon


Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon says testing on the Royal Australian Air Force's F/A-18 Hornets has revealed fewer of the planes may need to be rebuilt, saving nearly $500 million.

Testing on the Hornets has found that fatigue in their fuselages is not as bad as first thought.

Mr Fitzgibbon says that could mean the number of Hornets needing a fuselage replacement could be cut from 49 to 10.

[Stephen Brown]

Yeah here

http://yssyforum.net/board/showpost.php?p=11721&postcount=48