We levelled off at FL350 about 20 minutes after takeoff and I turned on the smoke for a relaxing 1200 miles trip to the Australian mainland.
After about 3 hours of flight, I finally got some radio contact out of Brisbane, and they put me onto a descent pattern about 130 mph out from my destination.
ATC ordered me to turn to a heading of about 300 degrees, where I would cross over the shoreline and intercept the ILS about 20 miles later. Here, a passenger took a polaroid which he later handed me on his way off the aircraft.
About 10 miles out I lower my flaps to 25 and begin to descend as I approach runway 16L. There's the city of Sydney in the background beneath the fog. ATIS tells is its a dreary, but warm day, with scattered rainfall at about 68 degrees Fahrenheit.
Now less than a few hundred yards out I heard an explosion in engine #1. Here are person in a nearby hotel caught an action photo of it as it happened.
To make matter worse, the engline blowout brought our bird down a little faster and I blew out a tire on the left side on touchdown. I had a hard time keeping her on the runway as my co-pilot Joe tried to shut down #1. I came toa skidding, screaching stop at the very end of the runway with only a hundred yards or so separating New Zealand flight#44 and the ocean.
ATC closed runway 16L for about 2 hours while debris was cleaned and passengers were evacuated. My friend with the polaroid camera would've been able to snap a photo of the MD-80 making a parallel approach to runway 16R just a short distance ahead of me, but the explosion definitely distracted the people on board. The plane is under repair as we speak in Australia and is expected to be activated again within the next month. The Air Traffic Controller at Auckland Intl was fired for failing to judge the necessary length of a runway for a 747 which is a little over 10,000 ft. Hopefully, the accident will never happen again.
Great shots too! I am saving the one with the crashing, explosion as you hit the runway. I love it! 