Look into the sky around 7pm on Monday and there will be a low-level flyover of Wollongong and Shellharbour by a new Qantas 787 to mark the national carrier's centenary.
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It has been 100 years since the Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services Limited (QANTAS) was founded in Winton, Queensland, by Paul McGinness, Sir Hudson Fysh and Sir Fergus McMaster.
The flyover is taking place to coincide with a black-tie dinner at the HARS Aviation Museum to celebrate the aviation milestone.
HARS president Bob De La Hunty said the flyover at 1500 feet is of one of the new 787 Dreamliners.
"It is painted up with 100th anniversary of Qantas underneath and on the side," he said.
The 787 will follow a similar path down the Wollongong coastline as the final Boeing 747-400 in the Qantas fleet took before departing Australia with a fly over of HARS and Shellharbour Airport.
It will come down the coast and swing in over Port Kembla and Dapto around 7pm.
"It is pushing back in Sydney at 6.30, getting airborne around 6.45pm," Mr De La Hunty said.
The 787 Dreamliner is also doing a flyover of Sydney Opera House which may delay its arrival over Shellharbour Airport.
"It is being flown by Lisa Norman, the captain who is the woman who flew it directly to London.
"It's QF 100 and there are 100 passengers on board selected out of a ballot that Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce put together.
"There will be a lot of Qantas people at the dinner tonight and everyone will come out and see it fly over close to 7pm."
Once the 787 does its initial fly over of Shellharbour Airport it will swing out over Windang and Warilla before turning back over the ocean and doing a second fly over in the opposite direction.
It will then proceed back out over Port Kembla and fly north adjacent to the Wollongong coastline.
HARS and the first Boeing 747-400 remaining in Australia are featuring prominently in two events to mark the historic occasion and raise funds to bring the ex-Qantas Boeing 707-138 donated by John Travolta to HARS.
On Sunday guests were invited to dress in Qantas retro gear and join HARS members at an Under the Wings of OJA barbecue that included a tour of HARS.
HARS events manager Sherryl Sherson said the centenary dinner follows the success of other events such as the fly-over of the very last Boeing 747-400 in the Qantas fleet. That saw dozens of present and former pilots, engineers and cabin crew from the airline dress in uniforms to celebrate the occasion.
Read more:
- All the photos of the farewell salute from the last Qantas 747-400 to the first
- Flying replica of Australia's most famous history making aircraft closer to take off
- Nancy Bird Walton's legacy has inspired her great grand daughter Maysa to attend an aviation high school so she can learn fly
- Did you know HARS was involved in an epic eight day mission to restore aviation history in China in 2016 that took 96 days through six countries to complete?
- Final Qantas Boeing 747 leaves a flying kangaroo formation in the sky
- 30th anniversary of HARS Jumbo's record breaking flight
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