BY SHANE DAVEY
A little piece of the Hunter Valley flew into history last week hitching a ride on the very special, very last Qantas 747-400 – VH-OEJ to fly out of Australia following the retirement of the 747 fleet. The generosity of spirit shown to us by ‘The Spirit of Australia’ is a major milestone in our short life that will always hold a special place in The Hunter River Times heart.
The crew including first female Captain Sharelle Quinn and Hunter local, Captain Ewen Cameron piloted the last Qantas flight of the Queen of the Sky, the Boeing 747, to the Mojave desert via Los Angeles. As the plane left Sydney on Wednesday there was something very special to us on board the Flying Kangaroo.
Yes, your paper, the July 17 edition of The Hunter River Times was on board for the flight crew to read. So, to all those people who featured in the stories and the photos you can now claim to have been on this journey. You were part of this, you were on board and shared this magic moment in history. How incredible is that!
To Qantas, Sharelle, Ewen, other crew, and the thousands of people who worked on the 747, thank you so very, very much.
To all our readers here in the Hunter who had the privilege of flying to far off destinations aboard this amazing airplane, we are sure you will always remember that special experience.
To the future people of photos and stories in The Hunter River Times we have a simple message, you never quite know where you might end up.
Thank you crew, thank you Qantas.
