08/18/2020 at 11:00 • Filed to: flightline, Planelopnik, planelopnik history, Airliner, AUSTRALIA, Life in the time of Covid-19, coronavirus | ![]() | ![]() |
Airliners parked at Alice Springs Airport
!!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , Alice Springs, NT, Australia, 2020
The first recorded landing in Alice Springs was in 1921, and by 1939 Survey & Inland Transport(renamed !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! in 1943, then Connair, then sold to !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! ) had established its headquarters at the Town Site Drome (now the site of the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! ). Spurred on by the gathering clouds of war with Japan in the late 1930s, a larger airport known as Seven Mile Aerodrome was built. Seven Mile was used by the RAF, RAAF and USAAF during WWII, when it functioned as a staging and refueling base for transports. After the war the field was renamed Alice Springs Airport and in 1961 the main runway was extended to its current length of 7,999 feet, long enough to allow landings (but not fully loaded takeoffs) of 747, 777 and A380 wide body aircraft.
The airport was the site of two notable incidents in the 1970s: the 1972 hijacking of !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , Australia’s second such hijacking, which resulted in the death of the hijacker, and the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! on the Connellan headquarters, in which a disgruntled employee flew a Beech Baron 58 into the building, killing himself and four others, as well as injuring four more.
Alice Springs is a regional airport, and is served by several domestic airlines, with 640 thousand passengers moved through in 2011. That year, Asia Pacific Aircraft Storage chose the site for the first large-scale aircraft boneyard outside the US, due to Alice Springs climate. Similar to AMARG in Tuscon, the facility would store aircraft when not in service, as well as part out and recycle retired airliners. As a result of the Coronapocalypse, a number of airlines began parking aircraft there, including !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! .
Planes from Singapore Airlines parked in the desert near Alice Springs, Australia
![]() 08/18/2020 at 11:03 |
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“ the 1972 hijacking of Ansett Airlines Flight 232 , Australia’s second such hijacking, which resulted in the death of the hijacker,”
This is an appropriate end to the story
![]() 08/18/2020 at 11:14 |
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I think the A380, which is not a pretty aircraft, looks best in the Singapore Airlines livery. It’s big and bold in a way that fits the airliner.
![]() 08/18/2020 at 12:01 |
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I agree. I have never liked the A380, though I do find it’s sheer size impressive. And the wing is an engineering masterpiece.
![]() 08/18/2020 at 12:02 |
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ANA’s turtle fleet does the best job, IMHO, of disguising the A3Ugly’s ungainly appearance.
We’ll just have to imagine what the once proposed stretched -900 version would look like, as I’m sure the extra length would have improved the proportions.
![]() 08/18/2020 at 17:06 |
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Why does the climate help? Dry to stave off corrosion?
08/18/2020 at 17:18 |
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Exactly, same as why the Bonyard is in Tuscon. Aircraft stored outside for long periods tend to age quickly:
Corrosion on an aircraft can be every bit as bad as rust on a car, especially since it can get into more places, places that you need to disassemble to see.
![]() 08/18/2020 at 17:31 |
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Ah so it is the dryness?
Makes sense. I’m often shocked when I read about the rust problems you guys have in other parts of the world. Down here there’s no reason you can’t daily drive a 30 year old car
08/18/2020 at 17:41 |
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Yup, snow and salt during the winter, and humidity and rain during the other three seasons kills steel.
![]() 08/18/2020 at 18:34 |
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Such a pain. I’m down south which gives a long cold winter, with plenty of rain that’s not quick to evaporate in the cold weather. But covered parking helps that a lot. Snow (and salt) is the real evil I think, one that’s unknown to us
![]() 08/18/2020 at 22:07 |
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probably
![]() 08/18/2020 at 22:08 |
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just nuts
![]() 08/18/2020 at 22:10 |
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“so long fuel thirsty sky whale”
![]() 08/18/2020 at 22:18 |
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other issue is when they salt the roads, it 4 parts sand :1 part salt mix . T he salt disolves and the sand gets trapped in nooks and crannies and helps hold the salt and collect moisture. So well past the storm, youll have this sand trapped all over and abrading surfaces.
![]() 08/18/2020 at 23:39 |
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I was thinking more along the lines of the gorgeous curve of the wing, but that shot works too.
![]() 08/18/2020 at 23:49 |
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such an impressive view.