Antonov 124 at Adelaide Airport

Santa delivered an early Christmas present to the Adelaide Planespotters when an Antonov 124 arrived from Nadi, Fiji this morning.

After landing, it parked by the control tower, where close views were obtained from the long term car park.

Another Antonov

There was an unusual visitor at Adelaide Airport today.  This Ukrainian Antonov AN-12 delivered it's cargo to RAAF Edinburgh before making the short hop to Adelaide for fuel and a crew rest stop.

This four engined turbo prop cargo plane is 47 years old.

Antonov

So I finally got round to processing the photos I took of the Antonov 124 that is visiting Adelaide at the moment.  It arrived last Sunday, in wet and windy conditions, from Albuquerque, New Mexico flying via Honolulu and Brisbane.

It was due to fly out to Kuala Lumpur earlier this week, but the flight was postponed. So this morning I went back to the airport to take some photos of it on the ground (in much nicer conditions). Seeing it close up you really get to appreciate the size of this aircraft.

Next weekend we will be getting a visit from another big aeroplane  A Qantas Boeing 747 bringing troops home from the war games currently going on in Queensland. 

A "BIG" weekend

I just had a very big weekend.

On Saturday I was at Adelaide Airport to watch the departing Antonov An-124 Ruslan leave after bringing in some military vehicles for a trade show here.  The An-124 is one of the largest production cargo aircraft in the world and can carry 150 Tonnes over 3000 Kilometres

Then on Sunday we headed down to Basham Beach on the Fleurieu to watch the Southern Right Whales that chose to winter in South Australian Waters.  We saw three adult whales loafing in the water about 300 metres offshore.

Antonov An-124 in Adelaide

Today I made an early morning visit to Adelaide Airport to see an Antonov An-124 Ruslan, one of the largest cargo planes in civilian use.  It was flying in from Brisbane on a cargo charter.  I got to the airport just after 06:30, only to find that it had been delayed and was likely to come in after 09:00.

While waiting, this Qantas 737-800 arrived.  It is painted in a heritage scheme representative of the 1970s and 80s

The usual international flights arrived, first Malaysia Airlines, and then Singapore Airlines both flying Airbus A330s

As the China Southern Airbus was landing, the Antonov was turning on finals behind it.

The Antonov is a very impressive aircraft, originally designed in the 1980s and is still in limited production in the Ukraine.