What is the heaviest plane to use Cooly?

[Peter Cokley]

With the Scoot B777 arriving at Cooly I am considering what is the heaviest plane to use Cooly? [Yes, the history part of my brain is at work!]

Possible contenders;
VH-EAA Boeing 747SP-38. January 25, 1981 ex Townsville and later depart to Brisbane after public inspection on ground here at Cooly. Aircraft was named 'City of Gold Coast Tweed'
http://www.aussieairliners.org/b-747/vh-eaa/vheaa.html
or
Regular normal Jetstar A330 flights to Japan or Airasia A330 to Kuala Lumpur
Or
Scoot B777
or
RAAF C17

The assumption is all these are heavier than the B767 or A300 [TAA] as used at Cooly in days of olde.

Present Daps only list 4 bays for A330 and none for B777 so assumption that A330 and B777 have equal pavement strength requirement or else there would have been major pavement and apron work strengthening before B777 arrival.

Perhaps the real answer is lost in time as we don't know the take off data of the B747SP ex Cooly???

I can google an A330, B777, C17 and B747SP at max but that is probably not what they were or are at Cooly, which is my research interest.

[Lukas M]

MH has diverted before, 772. Scoot at MTOW is pushing the current runway capabilities as it is so, Id say possibly Scoot.

Terry should be able to answer this one though!

[TERRY MAGEE]

I have no idea of the weights of the various aircraft but I understood the runway extension a few years ago was to allow intercontinental flights by 777s and the like.

I was given a photo some time ago of an Ansett (remember them) 747 at OOL but I can't recognise the background to be sure.

[Brock L]

I would say that the C17 would be counted out as when it trains here it wouldn't normally have any cargo onboard, making it much lighter (even with fuel) compared to the likes of a decent load of passengers, fuel and cargo on an A330-200/-300 or (now) a Triple 7.

MH has diverted before, 772.

When was this Lukas? That would have been awesome to see!

[TERRY MAGEE]

I think you will find the only MH diversion was 9M-MTA an A330-323X on 13/07/08. I'm sure Scoot was the first 777

[Peter Cokley]

I have no idea of the weights of the various aircraft but I understood the runway extension a few years ago was to allow intercontinental flights by 777s and the like.

I was given a photo some time ago of an Ansett (remember them) 747 at OOL but I can't recognise the background to be sure.

Hi Terry,
Can you check if the jumbo picture was Ansett or Qantas as there are a few pictures around of the Qantas 747SP I noted earlier?

Thanks
Peter

[Matt Coughran]

The 747 for landed at OOL was an 747SP

[Peter Cokley]

The 747 for landed at OOL was an 747SP

Yes Matt and I have noted the date and rego etc above for that 747SP visit. What Terry and I are sorting out is if the picture he has is a 747 at Cooly as he can't recognise the background so he is not sure it was at Cooly.

[Peter Cokley]

Over on the other thread we managed to sort out the Cooly ERSA Runway data which help us understand what can land here
viewtopic.php?f=7&t=13220

ERSA says Coolangatta RW 14/32 2342 meters 139 77a PCN 55/F/A/1750 kPa [254PSI] / T grooved and WID 45 RWS 150

Translates as Runway numbers/names 14 / 32 [reciprocal]
2342 meters length shown on map diagram,
139 is bearing of degrees magnetic,
77 = 7700 feet [2342 metres RW length = 7 683.7 feet rounded off to 7700 to give 77],
a = asphalt [if b than concrete or c = other]
PCN 55 is Pavement Classification Number of 55 and aircraft have Aircraft Classification Number (ACN) so the ACN is not permitted to exceed the PCN unless exemption.
F is flexible pavement
A is high strength pavement subgrade
1750 kPa [254PSI] max tyre pressure
T means the PCN was the result of a technical evaluation
Grooved is a grooved runway
WID 45 wide is the RW width in meters
RWS 150 meters is the sides free of upstanding objects such as posts but may contain trenches etc outside of the boundary markers.

Find individual aircraft type's ACN from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aircraft_C ... ion_Number and use the Flexable subgrade column for "A" and ensure tyre pressure below 1.75MPa and PCN 55. You will notice some models of the B747 fit but the runway length will make a negative difference there! The B747 has a wing span of 64.4 meters so will fit within the RWS of 150 meters but...... Are the outer engines over the runway or over grass?

ACN is not permitted to exceed the PCN unless exemption but the Boeing URL below notes PCN is worked out on number of times that heavy plane uses the place so non frequent use may get an exemption. It has an interesting graph showing this.

The result is interesting but still does not tell us what is the heaviest plane to use Cooly as we don't know their particular take off mass at Cooly. Still, an interesting research project!

Help from;
https://www.airservicesaustralia.com/ai ... n-2012.pdf
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pavement_C ... ion_Number
ACN and PCN Maths from http://profemery.info/aviation/Boeingestimatingpcn.pdf

[Grant G]

MH have never diverted a 777 into OOL.
MH have flow A330 for AIr Asia X, Scoot is the 1st 777, VA haven't even diverted to OOL yet.

[Peter Cokley]

Translates as Runway numbers/names 14 / 32 [reciprocal]
2342 meters length shown on map diagram,
WID 45 wide is the RW width in meters
RWS 150 meters is the sides free of upstanding objects such as posts but may contain trenches etc outside of the boundary markers.

Find individual aircraft type's ACN from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aircraft_C ... ion_Number and use the Flexable subgrade column for "A" and ensure tyre pressure below 1.75MPa and PCN 55. You will notice some models of the B747 fit but the runway length will make a negative difference there! The B747 has a wing span of 64.4 meters so will fit within the RWS of 150 meters but...... Are the outer engines over the runway or over grass?

Did a bit more checking re the width required for the outer engines of a B747. Cooly has a present day RW width of 45 m as did Sydney and Melbourne main runways in 1976 and Brisbane's 1976 main RW 22/04 was 2365 meters and all three had B747 operations. That suggests our present Cooly RW 14/32 of 2342 m could handle a B747 as a non frequent diversion as the PCN is ok as well as noted earlier.

EDIT; Brisbane's RW 22/04 was 60 meters wide but as its shorter length is just a fraction longer than Cooly's present length,was why I included it. The 45m width was covered by Sydney usage.

[Peter Cokley]

Cooly had a visit [17 OCT 2012] from Boeing 777-300ER A6-ECM United Arab Emirates, thus an addition to the list of heavy planes into Cooly. See viewtopic.php?f=18&t=13461

Others on that list include;
Boeing 747SP-38 'City of Gold Coast Tweed' VH-EAA
http://www.aussieairliners.org/b-747/vh-eaa/vheaa.html
Opened for public inspection at Coolangatta Airport January 25, 1981

Boeing 777-200ER eg Scoot for Singapore [non-stop]

A332 eg Jetstar for Japan [non-stop]

A333 eg Asia X for Kuala Lumpur [non-stop]

RAAF C17

B767 eg Ansett etc

Airbus A300 eg TAA

Yesterday’s Boeing 777-300ER data from….
-----Original Message-----
From: oz-spotters@yahoogroups.com [mailto:oz-spotters@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Ian Garton
Sent: Thursday, 18 October 2012 1:00
To: oz-spotters@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [oz-spotters] Mode-S/ADS-B/ACARS Log: Brisbane, Australia (YBBN) - 17-Oct-12
Mode-S/ADS-B/ACARS Log for Brisbane, Australia (YBBN) - 17-Oct-12
Date/Time Mode-S Regist Type State Callsign Route
17-Oct 05:46 896114 A6-ECM B77W ARR UAE434 DXB-BNE
17-Oct 08:32 896114 A6-ECM B77W DEP UAE434 BNE-AKL
17-Oct 18:41 896114 A6-ECM B77W ARR UAE435 AKL-BNE

But landed Coolangatta instead

17-Oct 20:25 896114 A6-ECM B77W ENR UAE435 OOL-BNE
17-Oct 22:29 896114 A6-ECM B77W DEP UAE435 BNE-DXB

Those interested in its track log Cooly to Brisbane and later departure direct to Dubai http://flightaware.com/live/flight/A6EC ... N/tracklog and
http://flightaware.com/live/flight/A6EC ... /YBCG/YBBN

With grateful thanks to Ian Garton for the above date and to Terry and Matt on the other thread viewtopic.php?f=18&t=13461

Cheers
Peter Cokley

[Peter Cokley]

Add to the list of heavy long range departures from Cooly the 3 recent Cathay Charters for Chinese New Year between Hong Kong / Gold Coast February 2013 using A330-300s with the third by A330-343X B-HLT . Flight numbers CX8153/8154/8158/8159
http://e0.flightcdn.com/live/flight/BHL ... /YBCG/VHHH

[Peter Cokley]

We have a new entry for the heavy plane list; Qantas Boeing 747-438(ER) VH-OEE landed Coolangatta 19 July 2016 as flight QF16 Los Angeles (LAX) to Brisbane (BNE) but diverted to Coolangatta (OOL) due fog in Brisbane. Passengers on VH-OEE from Los Angeles remained on the plane at Coolangatta.

VH-OEE was first Boeing jumbo 747 in commercial passenger service at Coolangatta. Boeing 747SP-38 VH-EAA came here 25 January 1981 on display trip with crew only and open for public internal tour http://www.aussieairliners.org/b-747/vh-eaa/vheaa.html

EDIT; fixed the grammar.

[Peter Cokley]

We have a new record for distance for a widebody on a regular passenger timetabled flight carrying a conventional passenger and freight type of load into Coolangatta, even though it was a diversion due fog in Brisbane. This to me is a different category of long range flight to a business jet transporting a handful of executives.

Air Canada ACA35 Vancouver to Brisbane; Boeing 787-8, C-GHPY, Direct: 6,403 nm. The previous longest distance into Coolangatta, also a diversion, was 6,235 nm for Qantas 747-438(ER) VH-OEE QF16 from Los Angeles 19 July 2016. That B747 still holds the size record into Coolangatta as it too was a diversion of a regular passenger timetabled flight carrying a conventional passenger and freight type of load.

EDIT: The normal timetabled longest flight from here in 2017 is Coolangatta Tokyo (Narita) 3,914 nm by Jetstar B787-8 on JST11 /JST12.