From
www.aussieairliners.org we read that VH-OJA was the first of four B747-400 series aircraft ordered by QANTAS Airways and was the twelfth of its type to roll-off the Boeing production line at Everett (Seattle) in February 1989.
It was powered by Rolls Royce RB211 524G2 engines.
It entered the Australian Aircraft register and was named "City of Canberra" on the 11th August, 1989.
As a part of its delivery flight to Sydney, Australia, VH-OJA was prepared, including special fuel, for a record breaking flight for an airliner in commercial service. It flew as one sector from Heathrow, London to Sydney in 20 hours 9 minutes and 5 seconds covering over 18,000 miles.
The aircraft then settled into its normal commercial aviation role including the regular non-stop Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane - Los Angeles flights of about 15 hours (common enough flight times in subsequent years but a new stretch of regular endurance at the time).
During this time, it only came up as matter of concern once in an Australian Transport Safety Bureau paper after a "loss of separation" (ie too close to another aircraft) in the mid 1990's. VH-OJA was not at fault, nor were there any serious consequences.
By 2014, the now ageing aircraft was slated for retirement, and was expected to be joining sister aircraft at the Victorville, California aircraft storage facility (or aircraft graveyard!) or similar. Its final revenue flights were expected in November 2014, but somehow, it came back for further revenue service until January 2015. In this period, it might have been expected to have made the short trip from Los Angeles to Victorville, but, no, it came back to Sydney. It was finally announced that VH-OJA would be preserved in a museum, and is the second QANTAS "Jumbo Jet" to escape the scrappers (the other being B747-200 VH-EBQ located at Longreach in Central Queensland).
A QANTAS media release summarizes VH-OJA:
Qantas Boeing 747-400 “VH-OJA” facts
- 25.3 years in service
- 13,833 flights
- 4,094,568 passengers carried
- This aircraft has flown nearly 85 million kilometres, which is equivalent to 110.2 return trips to the moon
- “VH-OJA” was Qantas’ first Boeing 747-400 aircraft and was named the City of Canberra
- It was delivered to Qantas on 11 August 1989 and made its debut flight on 16 August 1989 from London to Sydney
- On Thursday 17 August 1989, it set the record for having flown the longest non-stop flight (London-Sydney) of any commercial airline (flight number QF7441)
- The flight and subsequent media attention around the world at the time underlined Qantas’ role as the leader in long-range commercial aviation.
- All of Qantas’ B747-400 aircraft were named ‘Longreach’ as a tribute to our place of origin and to demonstrate the long-range of the aircraft.
VH-OJA again made history on 8th March, 2015 when it flew possibly the shortest flight for this type of aircraft and landed at Illawarra Regional Airport at just after 7:47am (just missed the symbolic time!) on Flight QF7474 for a total flight time of about 10 minutes. It landed on the relatively short and narrow 1800m long X 30m wide runway (compared to typically 4000m X 45m) with reduced tyre pressure and "just enough" fuel for the flight and any contingency.
QANTAS recovered three engines which still had considerable service life and, at this time of writing, will replace with life expired engines for cosmetic appearance. The aircraft remains fully QANTAS liveried.
The aircraft was cancelled from the Australian Aircraft Register on 31st March, 2015.