G’day Everyone,
Recently I was on a trip from Coffs Harbour to Brisbane via Sydney. The point of the trip, was a spotting trip, and to fly on one of Qantas’ Boeing B744 farewell flights.
An outcome of the trip, was to see the extent of the fires lining all the way up the NSW coast, from Newcastle all the way up to Brisbane; the land was on fire.
The first flight was from Coffs Harbour to Sydney, aboard QF2101, the first flight out of Coffs, on board a Dash 8-400. Here is a view of a firestorm (shown in the cloud with the orange glow, look closely, you’ll see it) down near Taree, one of the many places surrounded by bushfires.
Another picture of a the same fire, around 3 minutes (flying time) south of the one above…
So, as seen, these fires are rather large, one of them (if you want to know, it’s called Liberation Trail) has a perimeter that is around the same length as Sydney to Alice Springs, which is pretty much halfway across Australia.
The next photos were taken on aboard QF524, a Boeing 747-400ER, from Sydney to Brisbane.
The picture below shows the beginning of the smoke haze, which begins at Newcastle, and doesn’t stop until north of Brisbane.
Another shot of the fire that was pictured above, it’s clearer and really shows how close these fires have gotten to the towns that were affected. The particular town pictured, Taree, wasn’t damaged in the fire, but surrounding areas were.
The trip was a real eye opener, showing the devastating extent of the fires that are burning, thankfully, most of these when pictured, are now Advice level fires, which had been Emergency Warning, or Watch and Act.
The firefighters and army have done an absolutely amazing job, protecting homes and towns that were in the line of the fire, minimal damage occurred during the height of the fire emergency.
Let me know what you think, and your thoughts on the fire emergency below!
Best Regards and Happy Flying,
-Adam S