Seismic Over Sydney

The flypast was initially planned in secret, with the first simulator sessions flown in the wee hours to design a flight profile and define what training would be needed. This was the task of First Officer Jim Eaglen, a former RAAF Mirage and Hornet pilot.

Along with First Officer Andrew Eastaway, through the course of ten four-hour sessions in the simulator they crafted a plan at which time Captain Peter Barry, also ex-RAAF, was brought into the loop. Their task now was to compile training plans and briefing packages as well as flying another three sessions in the A380 simulator to confirm that the flight profile was just right.

At this point the plan started to emerge with Emirates pilots flying in the simulator with their Qantas compatriots and then demonstrating the flight profile to CASA and their respective company chief pilots. Additional Qantas crews were chosen to fly the sortie with former RAAF fighter combat instructor (FCI) Sean Trestrail as ‘pilot flying’ and Second Officer Mark Cameron, bringing the total crew complement to four, with Captain Barry joining the Emirates crew to provide local knowledge. In addition to Captain Barry, the Emirates A380 had Captain Abbas Shaban at the helm with former Belgian air force F-16 pilot, Captain Peter De Roeck and former South African Mirage pilot, First Officer Patrick Flynn.

The Emirates crews flew further sessions in their own simulator to further consolidate the requirements of the task. In all, 22 simulator sessions were flown in preparation, but the training did not stop there. There were written briefings to absorb and formal whiteboard briefings to attend before and after each simulator session. Captain Barry, a former RAAF flying instructor, was the man behind producing these briefings.

Second Officer Mark Cameron was kept busy attending to many of the administrative and regulatory issues. As one can imagine, proposing to fly two aviation behemoths over Sydney Harbour requires a number of formal issues to be attended to.

A comprehensive risk analysis of the sortie was conducted and measures were put in place accordingly. Pivotal was thorough preflight training and the selection of experienced crews with a comprehensive background in formation flying. Captain Barry wrote yet another very comprehensive brief, this time for CASA which in turn observed the simulator training. A healthy exchange of information followed and a number of approvals were ultimately issued to fly over a public gathering and to fly in formation. Approvals were also required from the UAE General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA).

With the ‘green light’ from the regulator, Jim Eaglen and Mark Cameron then liaised with Sydney air traffic control to obtain the appropriate clearances. Once again, a number of scenarios needed to be covered in preparation for the variables that could arise on Easter Sunday when the flight was scheduled to take place.

Thousands of Sydney-siders stopped and lifted their eyes to see an unprece-dented sight.

The runway configuration at Sydney Airport, traffic management, airspace clearances and potential weather issues were just some of the topics addressed. These also had to be considered in the context of the manoeuvrability of an Airbus A380 formation.

After five weeks of intensive preparation, the formation flight was finally set to take place.

Qantas A380 VH-OQJ carried the callsign of ‘Qantas 6600’, while the Emirates crew flew A6-EDY under the banner ‘Emirates 8388’. Together their formation was named ‘Seismic’. This name hailed from a reference in a speech by Emirates Airline president Tim Clark who described the two airlines’ partnership as a “seismic shift in aviation”.

After 100 hours of simulator training, the 45-minute flight was now underway. With only the operating crew aboard each aeroplane, they lifted off at a ‘lightweight’ 330,000kg, well below their maximum takeoff weight of 569,000kg. Formed up, the two airliners entered Sydney Harbour from the east before flying a reversal procedure and passing overhead Sydney from west to east. On the ground thousands of Sydney-siders stopped and lifted their eyes to see an unprecedented sight over their iconic harbour. In the air, the crews set about executing the flight in the same professional manner in which they had trained so thoroughly.

By the time the A380s had landed, news stories and photographs of the event were popping up all over the internet. It was an instantaneous response to a 10-minute flypast of Sydney Harbour that was many weeks and hours in the making. The smooth, uneventful nature of the flight belied the effort that lay beneath, as is so often the case of aviation.

‘Seismic’ had drawn together pilots from two airlines, of multiple nationalities with military backgrounds from around the globe. They had flown in simulators in Sydney and Dubai and yet shared a single stream of training to build a tight efficient formation.

The team had satisfied everyone from CASA to their own chief pilots that the exercise could be flown safely in Sydney’s skies. And when the day came, that’s exactly what they did.

In the modern airline era there is often little latitude for operations beyond the norm. When such an opportunity as the A380 formation does arise, it calls for an extensive investment of time, resources and dedication on behalf of all involved. Only when such a level of professionalism is displayed can very special moments be created in the sky. And only then does the opportunity exist to create a flight that is truly seismic.