Qantas Boeing 747, Longreach, Qld

The "City of Bunbury" was landed in Longreach on 16th of November, 2002. This 747 was named after Bunbury to mark the 150th anniversary of Western Australia. The city of Bunbury went into commission on 10th of December 1979 until its last landing in Longreach. During its service it flew over 82.54 million kilometres and clocked just under 20000 landings. Most of the Aircraft's life was with Qantas, while doing some time with Air Pacific and seeing out the end of its service with a Bali bombing rescue flight in 2002.

Exploring around one of the world's most reliable aircrafts and seeing behind the panels and inside compartments tells you that taking a flight isn't just about you, the passenger getting from one place to the other and ensuring that you get a window seat. It's an engineering masterpiece, a city of hydraulic lines and motors with busy motorways of electrical wiring, to turn 300 tonnes of aluminium and send it in the right direction at speeds just shy of sound. Going from one end of the 747 to the other makes you realise that a lot can change in just a 71 metre walk, seating for over 400 passengers, toilets and kitchens to accomodate them all and an upstairs bar to let the good times roll miles into the sky. Sitting in the cockpit was next level sophistication, it felt like there was a endless sea of gauges and switches. Putting our feet on the rudders and hands on the control wheel made us feel like the world would turn with every move we make.

Walking out on the wing was the lookout of this flying city, looking back you get the best view of all the plane. Looking out you can see the history of the 707 that brought us into the jet age, the DC 3 that muscled its way through World War 2  and in the distance the Royal Flying Doctor Service's Beechcraft King Air putting the wheels on the tarmac.