Airplanes

Erik and I have spent a bit of time on airplanes during our travels over the last few years. I have developed a keen interest in airplanes with all of that travel, and not just when flying. Interestingly, all of the homes we have lived in have been located within a 15-20 minute drive of an airport. In Chapel Hill we could often see planes landing at RDU. When we lived in Elkridge, we were very close to BWI and therefore could see and hear planes landing. Here in Australia, we live near Melbourne International Airport (MEL), and over the past 3+ years we have spent many evening and weekend walks or bike commutes to and from work watching planes land and take off from MEL.

The Qantas A380 above Melbourne

The exciting thing about watching planes enter or exit MEL is the wide variety of airlines that visit the airport. In America, most airports are busy with LOTS of domestic flights and a handful of international flights. Here, it is always fun to try to see the plane's colors and/or logos to determine where it is coming from or where it is headed. With us both being first born children, we sometimes turn this into a competition! MEL has numerous domestic flights too, but remember there are only a handful of major airports located in Australia, so there are not as many flights coming in from other parts of the country as we used to see in the States.

Heading up the east coast of Australia on a domestic flight. While we are often taking pictures from the windows of planes while traveling, we occasionally take pictures of planes coming into MEL, especially if one of us is at home and the other one is on the plane!

I have an app on my phone that lists all departures and arrivals from MEL, and I can use it to look up which planes are arriving or departing at certain times and also to see if those flights are delayed. In the matter of a few hours, international flights will arrive from Air New Zealand, Emirates, Singapore, Etihad, Thai, Malaysia, Qatar, Cathay Pacific, Air Asia, Garuda Indonesia, and Air India! Also, there are three different airlines that fly from MEL to China that we frequently see; Air China, China Eastern, China Southern. There are only 4 major domestic airlines in Australia: Qantas, Virgin, JetStar, and Tiger. All of those airlines except Tiger also fly internationally to/from MEL, and usually we can tell if it's an international flight by the size of the plane. 

One hour's worth of international departures at MEL

We sometimes try to guess the type of planes that we see in the air. The easiest to identify is the Airbus A380, which is identifiable by the 4 very large engines. It is my plane of choice when visiting the States, as I find it quieter and more comfortable than other long range planes. United has started flying the "Dreamliner" 787 flight from MEL to LAX, and I'm tempted to give that one a go just to see what the plane is like. Nerd or airplane enthusiast? You be the judge!

The Qantas A380 at MEL