Happy Birthday to the Flying Kangaroo

After 90 years of operation, it's time to wish Qantas a very happy birthday!

Of course, they've had their fair share of bad press of late, but putting that aside, one has to marvel at the achievements of this airline over the years.

Here's just a few of their milestones.

In 1920 Qantas - which stands for Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services Limited (Q.A.N.T.A.S.)-registered in Brisbane on 16 November.

1934 - Qantas Empire Airways (Q.E.A.) was registered in Brisbane - a joint venture between Q.A.N.T.A.S. and Imperial Airways of England - and awarded Australian Government tender to operate the country's first overseas air service between Brisbane, Darwin and Singapore which began on 26 February 1935.

1943 to 1945 - Qantas pilots flew the world's longest route - an average of 28 hours - from Perth to Colombo (Sri Lanka) using twin-engine Catalina Flying Boats, undertaken mostly in radio silence to avoid Japanese attack - 271 safe crossings, 648 passengers, a total of almost one million miles.

1948 - First female flight hostesses join their male colleagues in May on the Lockheed Constellation L749 services - the first to operate with all-Australian crew from Sydney through to London.



1958 - Qantas created aviation history becoming the first airline to offer round-the-world services between Australia and the UK via the southern and northern hemispheres.

1959 - In July , Qantas became the first airline outside the United States to fly B707 jets carrying passengers from Australia to the UK across the Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans and later also via Asia.



1975 - Qantas engineer Jack Grant presented with global aviation's premier safety award for his contribution to the development of the inflatable aircraft slide/raft equipment.

1974 - World record for largest passenger load, evacuating 674 people with 23 crew on a Boeing B747 after Cyclone Tracy devastated Darwin.

1979 - Qantas became the first airline in the world to offer Business Class in a separate cabin with individual service on international flights.

1989 - World's longest non-stop flight undertaken by a commercial jet aircraft from London to Sydney, the Boeing 747-400 aircraft City of Canberra.

Aside from years of pioneering and innovation, Qantas became an Australian icon known worldwide. Ask any Aussie overseas and they won't deny feeling a pang of homesickness seeing the familiar 'Flying Kangaroo'. Qantas also became known to millions through the iconic "I Still Call Australia Home" campaign. The video is freely available on YouTube. When visiting family a year or so ago, I was delighted to see a refreshed version of this ad involving the Aboriginal children of the Australia Children's Choir- it can't help but bring a tear to the eye of any proud Aussie.



So, from a self-confessed AvGeek who loved Qantas as a little kid, to a proud Aussie today, a very happy birthday Qantas.! Here's to 90 years more!!

eeeeEK! What to Do For an Airline Assessment Day

Over the last few years I've dished out a lot of advice on how to get through the circus that is airline recruitment. There's never any hard and fast rules, as everyone is different, but the general principles are the same. You can do a search for the 'interview' tag elsewhere on my blog.

Recently, I was contacted by a flight attendant hopeful, who was worried because she had just gotten the much-hoped for invitation to assessment day for a major airline. Kim has given me permission to share some of her emails with you in the hope that other FA wannabes can find some helpful information from her experience.

KIM: Why I have decided and taken this weird chance and emailing you, as Airline is having an Open day this Saturday in --------. I have been going to the Open days since I was 18 years old with other friends who could register. It's been a lengthy wait, but very worthwhile. I went last year, however was rejected as I was underage. Just emailing you for some advice

TT: Thanks for writing to me, I'm always glad to hear that people enjoy my blog.

My best advise for a resume is to keep it very neat and no longer than 2 single pages (1 side on 2 different sheets)

What experience have you had that would help you as a flight attendant? If you've had a job that lets you face customers, great! Put that down. If not, then what have you done in other areas? For example, in school you may have been on a team for an assignment. Or maybe you have done some babysitting. Highlight things you have done that give you responsibility, or where you've helped others. You could use just about any sort of job and relate it to being a flight attendant. Don't worry that you haven't been a flight attendant before, it doesn't matter! They just want to know that you like people and you have ambition to do well.

When I started out, I looked on the internet for examples of cabin crew-specific resumes. Cabincrew.com has a good 'Jobs' area with some tips as well. And you could also go to one of the job agencies for tips, or even use a book from your local library for advice. (Just make sure that it's not too old). I've used templates from Microsoft Office and adjusted them so they fit- adding in my own information. Just remember to keep it simple- the recruiter can always ask you for more information!

On resumes, cover letters & photos:

To be honest, at the open day the recruiters will not read the cover letter- I have seen people give them cover letters before and they really don't look at it. If they like you, they will ask you to tell them why you want to work for them (all things you mention in your letter) at the interview stage. So it would be best to keep it to just the resume plus the photos, nicely set out.

Colour isn't a problem if it's for things like headings, and if it makes it clearer to see things than if in black and white. Maybe print one of each and see which looks more effective. Sometimes simplest is best.As for paper, white is always best as it's simple and they don't need to see fussy, just professional.

If you haven't already, learn some facts about the airline from their website, so you may know answers to any questions they might ask the group on the first part of the Open Day. And above all, relax and SMILE! :)

KIM:Thank you for helping a stranger. You have given me great and specific advice and will let you know how the day goes!! Reallly excited and nervoussssss! hehe but will remember to Relax and Smile :)

A few days went by and then I got this email from Kim:
Hey TT!!!
You are my lucky charm :) honestly! without your help I wouldn;t have gone this far :)
Well guessssss what! I went along Saturday, there were approx 300 people, got through to the assessment day which was yesterday and now I have made it through to the final interview which is going to be on Wednesday at 4:00pm!!!! OMMMMGGG! I am wrapped, now can I ask u some questions about the final interview if you don't mind? Like how should my behaviour be? I should be myself? What type of questions they might ask?

TT:Just be yourself, think before you speak and remember that when we are nervous, we all speak faster than we think we do. So just remind yourself the recruiters want to know about you- just pretend you are talking to someone at the desk in Centreliyour office. Don't give too much information, just answer what they ask you. If they want to know more, they will ask. E.g. What did you like about working at yor office, you could say 'I enjoyed being able to help people when they were having problems'. If they ask why, you could say something like 'It made me feel I was doing a good job' or 'I like to help others and especially be useful'.

Think about all the jobs you have had and what they might ask you about them. Think about times you might not have done as well as you should. Don't be afraid to admit making a mistake in your job, as long as you show that you have learnt from it. You could say what you would do differently now in the same situation.

And don't worry if you're nervous, just tell them you are, they will understand- everyone is! If you need to come back to a question, ask if you can think about it and have another question in the meantime.

KIM:Hey! I did it, I was nervous, did become calm after sometime, they made me do a test after the interview (which last like 25 mins) is that bad? i'm worried now :(

TT:I wouldn't worry too much about the test, usually they pick random people and it's just to see how you work at a problem. If you were on your own they probably want to see how you go about solving a task and work to a time limit. If you had a group it would just be again like the assessment day, seeing how you work in a team.

In my company everyone did a quiz to see our personality, it's nothing to worry about! Well done, all you can do now is relax and wait to hear back. Did they give you a time frame when they will contact you by?

KIM:Hey heyyyy! I'm sooooooooooo happy I got my golden call this afternoon after 11 days from my interview, my DOJ is -------! Can't wait! Got to get all the medical done now!! Just wanting to thank you soo much for being there with me through this journey! :)

TT:I'm so pleased for you! Well done!!! What good news!

Best wishes to Kim as she embarks on her new career in the skies. Be sure to keep us posted on how you are doing. Maybe even start your own blog, eh? ;)

Trip Report- Flying the Skies With Singapore's A380 (Part 1)

Finally I'm in the mood to make a blog post, and seeing as my main theme of my blog is aviation, I thought I'd start with writing about what it was like to fly on the Airbus A380- giant of the sky.

Airline: Singapore Airlines (SQ)
Route: SIN-LHR (London Heathrow)
Aircraft: Airbus A388 (A380-800)



Before joining this flight, I had another sector with SQ from my home town to Singapore Changi Airport. Transit time was approximately 6 hours.

So many flights... and only about 3 or 4 hours out of the day!

On the flight up I traded watching tv for legroom, as the exit row at door R3 was unoccupied due to broken IFE. I asked one of the crew if I could sit there, and they were at first concerned I should know the tv's didn't work. When I assured them I was fine with it, they let me sit there, so I had the two seats to myself.

Strangely enough, I ended up receiving a special meal, even though I am neither Hindu or vegetarian, it ended up being tasty enough.

As a bonus, I got my meal before anyone else. If you tend to be hungry on flights, I recommend ordering a SM so you get to eat early. You will sit with your tray a bit longer too, though.

During my transit, I mostly looked around at the shops in the Terminal 3 transit mall. It certainly is a very traveller-friendly airport.

They had recharging stations for all possible gadgets (except USB for digital cameras, boo) a butterfly garden, free massage chairs and lots of other cool stuff.


Flowers in the butterfly house

Some really pretty butterflies, they were everywhere & there were lots of fake flowers with nectar pots in the middle to feed them.




The only thing lacking for an airplane nerd like me was a proper observation deck. The windows were big but didn't afford a view of the entire landing runway. I still got some good pics though.

SQ Boeing 777


QF A380

After lots of waiting around, we were finally ushered into the new boarding lounge which included gates for the A380.


While there, I tried to get a pic of my SavvyNavigator bag tag. Sadly the cool ones got corrupted on my camera card so this is the best of the remaining shots.
(Yes that is the A380 engines you can see in the background)

Our crew assembling to board the plane. I counted about 23 all up, that's a big crew!


After being welcomed on board & settling in, hot towels were passed out before take off which was a nice change. After departure we were given the amenity kits. Oddly, they had no eye shades, which I thought was really strange. Just some airplane socks & a small toothbrush. Of course I souvenired them for later, maybe I'll use them for a give-away later on.


As this is quite a big post, I'll write the rest of this one in the next day or two.

Airport Security in the Spotlight- Again

Just weeks after a security scare involving two young kids transporting bagfuls of weapons on flights across the country, the ugly side of Sydney's gang warfare has exploded in the public areas of Sydney Airport.

Yesterday, members of two rival bikie gangs got into a brawl in the domestic airport terminal, bashing each other with metal barrier bollards and resulting in one man dead, with many bystanders injured and airport workers & passengers deeply traumatised.

Of course, the incident has raised questions about airport security, namely- what if these had been 20 gun-toting terrorists, and they had got away with a rampage through the terminal for the same 10 minutes, but targeting any and all, not just one victim?

Obviously there is going to be a huge investigation on this. Now as usually happens, the police were the first to be criticised. I think, if anything, this highlights just how under-resourced and underpaid they are. Even the four or 6 uniformed specialist airport cops one regularly sees in the departures area couldn't have stopped this. So it begs the question- just how much is enough? Some commenters mention airports such as Changi, Chek Lap Kok and Heathrow, with machine gun-toting anti-terrorist officers as an example.

It will be interesting to see how it all actually panned out, if/when the CCTV footage is released.

In other sad news for aviation, a FedEx MD-11 has crashed at Tokyo's Narita airport, killing both flight crew on board. I suppose the only 'good' thing about it is that it was a cargo jet, and not full of passengers. Still, very sad. I thought the video was a fake when someone emailed it to me. I'm not going to post it here, but you could probably Google it if it interests you to see it. All I'll say is, there are sure some interesting last moments for the investigators to look at.

Next Time You're Passing Through Sydney...

Heather's recent post about the aviation museum in San Francisco reminded me of a similar exhibit in Sydney, Australia.

Next time you're passing through with some time to kill, why not check out the Qantas Heritage Collection in Terminal 3?


I've been a couple of times when I've had a half hour or more to spare, it's quite fascinating and the views are great too if you just like to watch the flights come and go.

There's uniforms, aircraft parts, menus, timetables and all sorts of stuff along with a timeline of Aussie aviation.

If you get a chance, have a chat with Des, one of the volunteers at the exhibit. He's a wealth of info, and I'm told, has some great stories to share.