SHELLHARBOUR City Council has won a national safety award for the delivery of the Qantas 747-400 to the Historical Aircraft Restoration Society in March.
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The Airport Safety Awards, held by the Australian and New Zealand Airport associations awarded council with the Safety Project for Regional Airport Award 2015 for co-ordinating the safe arrival of the Qantas 747-400.
The aircraft made history when it flew non-stop from London to Sydney in 20 hours, nine minutes and five seconds in 1989 and was the first Boeing 747-400 to be owned by Qantas.
The landing of the jumbo jet onto the runway pavement of the Illawarra Regional Airport was the co-ordinated effort of Qantas, council staff, Civic Aviation Safety Authority (CASA), emergency services, air services, HARS and airport tenants.
“We had all the risks evaluated in collaboration with the local police, traffic controllers and aviation experts to map out a plan of action to make this landing event a success,” group manager City Services Rosemary Crowhurst said.
“Bringing the plane in safely was in the hands of the Qantas pilots and their support team and it was up to us to make sure that external factors at the runway were managed.
“While everyone remembers the excitement of the plane landing, what I remember is that it landed safely - and that relied on everyone knowing their role and working together.”