Inaugural Jetstar Boeing 787 flight MEL-OOL (Photos)

[Brandon Giacomin]

Introduction:

When I was in Seattle in June this year and saw Jetstar’s first 787 on the final production line, I knew I had to get on the inaugural flight! Finally on October 9, tickets went on sale! The inaugural flight was on November 13 from MEL-OOL and I immediately booked it. As I was working that day, by the time I got to a computer the fare for this flight was $149. But that didn’t bother me! This report will only cover the inaugural Jetstar 787 flight. The other flights in this trip will be covered in a separate report.

Melbourne Airport:

I flew in from Brisbane the day before on Qantas. I was staying at the ibis budget so it was just a 5 minute walk over to the Qantas/Jetstar terminal. I had already done the web check-in on Monday. I arrived at 7:30am; I think I would’ve been one of the first people to arrive for the flight! I just grabbed some breakfast and wondered around the terminal. I then found out that we would be using Gate 21 so I waited there for the 787 to get towed over.

At 9am, VA304 arrived from Brisbane with my friend Josh on-board. VH-YIU operated this flight which has a very strange nose cone!
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And just after he arrived the magnificent Boeing 787 was towed around. By this time quite a few people were around including some media.
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Then JQ431 arrived with Brock Little on-board. VH-VGY operated the flight (second time for him ;) )
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Beautiful!
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Decorations at our gate
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Departure board at our gate
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Media around our gate
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Jetstar Group CEO Jayne Hrdlicka with Jules Lund watching on
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Bags were handed out to all the passengers. These included a lanyard, passport holder, keychain, cardboard plane, sun hat and a certificate. After Jules, the CEO and somebody from Boeing talked, Jules said let’s get on-board! Even though they weren’t actually ready to board haha! So a massive queue formed at the gate. 10 minutes later boarding commenced, Josh, Brock and myself were probably amongst the first fifty to board.

Inaugural Jetstar Boeing 787 Dreamliner Passenger flight!
November 13, 2013
Jetstar
JQ432
MEL-OOL
VH-VKA B788
Seat 27A

About to hop on-board!
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On-board!
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[Brandon Giacomin]

Row 27, I was in 27A. Brock went down to 47A and Josh to 39J.
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Flight Information
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Window tint controls
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Legroom shot, I am 180cm tall.
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We pushed back at 11:15, 15 minutes late which wasn’t surprising due to all the festivities for the inaugural flight.
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Passing an equally awesome Boeing 767 and then a couple of Boeing 777s!
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Nice line-up!
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Passing another Boeing 787! Air India VT-ANO. These things are going to be very common in Australia soon.
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I took a video of the take-off. Here is the link…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBjtQf-HkQ0&feature=youtu.be

Josh also took a video of the take-off with his gopro.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMWOF6WZ9oc

Climbing out after departing RWY34
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Nice right turn
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Above the clouds!
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[Brandon Giacomin]

I then tried out the window tinting feature. There are 5 different settings. The photos didn’t really turn out that great. When on the fifth setting it is pretty dark, but the photo didn’t quite do it justice.
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Wingview on the darkest setting
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Awesome view
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I then decided to have a look through the IFE. The size of the screen was good and I found it to be good quality, audio was also pretty good. Because this was the inaugural flight the IFE was free. Not sure whether this also applies for all domestic flights til December and then maybe people have to pay when it enters international service. I just watched an episode of Modern Family to give it a go. I had the flight map up the rest of the time. The flight map is under ‘Information’ and then ‘Voyager’ which I found quite strange. I believe it caused a bit of confusion with people not being able to find it. I had a look at all the options in the IFE and the range of movies, TV shows and music appeared to be quite good.

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As I was searching through the IFE, the cabin crew came through with free lunch. I didn’t get to try it however because they skipped my row!!! Not a major drama though, just under a 2 hour flight so I wasn’t going to starve to death. Just a bit surprised considering it was a media packed flight so I would’ve thought they’d take extra care! Most of the media was in my section of the cabin too. 27B next to me was un-occupied and 27C was taken by a guy from the Herald Sun. He wrote a review on it, I’ll warn you now…..its rubbish! Haha

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/travel/travel-advice/review-flying-the-jetstar-dreamliner-boeing-787-from-melbourne-to-the-gold-coast/story-fnjjv799-1226759047178

Flight map, we cruised at 41000’
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Preparing a story for the news, can’t remember if they were Channel 7 or 9. Its hilarious watching the media doing filming. It took this guy about 5 takes and he got so frustrated when he stuffed up.
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I thought it was then time to have a wonder through the cabin! It was quite hard to do so though, there were quite a few people who had the same idea. There was also all the media up and about with their massive cameras.
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Took this shot from the window at third door. That wing is incredible!
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Galley at the second door
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On descent
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Can’t get over that wing, simply incredible!
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[Brandon Giacomin]

Over the coastline
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Thought we were going for RWY14 (which I wanted) but we soon turned back in and were heading for RWY32
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Back over the coast
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On finals for RWY32
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Short finals
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Landing on RWY32, touchdown was very smooth!
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I didn’t get a video of the landing; but Josh got one with his gopro.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTJEb-uyrao

Exiting the runway, there were quite a few people out to see the first passenger 787 flight to OOL!
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Passing the tower
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Coming into the gate, I was quite surprised that we didn’t receive a water cannon salute! I know it wasn’t its first visit to OOL but it was the first passenger service for the JQ 787! Quite disappointed, never experienced one from inside an aircraft.
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All the media exited the plane first so that they could get a video of everyone getting off. I stayed seated as I was hoping to get some interior shots with not so many people around. About 20 others stayed back. Brock said he was going to ask about going up to the flight deck. So Josh and myself stuck around too. Someone from the cabin crew asked the pilots and they said that was fine! I think the f/a was probably asked by about 10 others! Haha. About 15-20 other people stayed back to go up to the cockpit as well.

Some interior shots with fewer people around
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Business Class
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[Brandon Giacomin]

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After about a 10 minute wait we were in the cockpit. The 787 flight deck is amazing. We talked to the pilots about it and they seemed very excited. They were saying that it is an amazing aircraft and it’s great to fly. One of the pilots who was particularly excited said the plane is like a piece of art, in particular the wings and engine blades!
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One more interior shot!
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Disembarking, we were the last three to leave the plane! Hahaha
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The massive engine!
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What a beautiful machine!
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Decorations at Cooly! By the time we got into the terminal it looked as if most people had left.
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After grabbing some lunch Brock drove Josh and myself down to the skate park to watch the afternoon movements. It was just the usual boring stuff at OOL. Josh was picked up at around 2:30pm and Brock and myself stayed to watch the 787 depart. Just after 3:30pm, VH-VKA took-off on RWY32 for the flight back to Melbourne.

Rotate!
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Awesome!
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[Brandon Giacomin]

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After that Brock dropped me off at the terminal (thanks again!) and I flew back to Melbourne on Virgin Australia.

Conclusion:

Probably the best flight I have ever been on! The Boeing 787 is a fantastic plane and I can’t wait to get on another! Not much else I can say!

I will try to get my report for the rest of the trip up by the end of the week.

Thanks for reading!
Brandon

[Grahame Hutchison]

Nice work Brandon, definitely agree it was a great flight and passengers will just love the Dreamliner.

Thanks for including me in Photograph 14 - check shirt with camera on the seat back.

[Jacob L]

Great Work Brandon,

Just a magnificant aeroplane, hope you enjoyed the trip.

:)

[Ryan Hothersall]

Great report and nice photos.