Powered by MOMENTUM MEDIA
australian aviation logo

Nancy-Bird arrives home in Sydney

written by australianaviation.com.au | April 22, 2012
Nancy-Bird about to touch down. (Paul Sadler/Airservices Australia)

Qantas A380 VH-OQA Nancy-Bird Walton touched down in Sydney on Sunday morning, completing its QF32 flight from Singapore 16 months and $139 million in repairs later after its explosive uncontained engine failure on November 4 2010.

As QF32 VH-OQA touched down on Sydney’s Runway 16 Right at about 9.20am on Sunday morning, arriving on time despite fog at the airport earlier in the morning causing extensive flight delays. Taxiing into the international terminal, Airservices Australia ARFF fire trucks provided VH-OQA with a water canon salute to mark its return to Sydney.

Airservices’ ARFF service welcomes home Nancy-Bird Walton. (Paul Sadler/Airservices Australia)

The Nancy-Bird Walton will return to airline service on April 28 when it operates QF127 from Sydney to Hong Kong.

You need to be a member to post comments. Become a member today!

Comments (8)

  • Tim

    says:

    I’m a little concerned everyone is writing Nancy-Bird Walton. The hyphen is in the wrong spot! It should be written as Nancy Bird-Walton. And yes I believe QANTAS have it written as Nancy-Bird Walton on the fuselage.

  • UKflyer

    says:

    @ Tim

    FYI: Her name on the A380 was originally written “Nancy Bird-Walton”, but Qantas respected her preference for the hyphenation that her late husband used (“Nancy-Bird”), and the hyphen was added before the aircraft’s naming ceremony. (Source Wikipedia)

  • B

    says:

    That is the way nancy-bird walton requested it be hyphonated

  • Andrew McLaughlin

    says:

    Tim

    We had this confusion when OQA first arrived a few years ago, and were assured by Qantas that the hyphen was between ‘Nancy’ and ‘Bird’ as per the great lady’s request.

    Regards

    Andrew

  • RichardAero

    says:

    Anyone know what was done to repair the wing front spar?

  • Tim

    says:

    Well there you go! Thanks to all for educating me 🙂 A most unusual request but it’s “her” aircraft and she can have it written anyway she wants 🙂

  • australianaviation.com.au

    says:

    @RichardAero – the front spar is assembled from a series of sections, and the damaged section was replaced by a new spar section.

  • Dazza

    says:

    I look forward to flying on her soon.

Comments are closed.

You don't have credit card details available. You will be redirected to update payment method page. Click OK to continue.