Flight #005 - YBBN -> YBCS

Today we take a trip down memory lane aboard a now retired Virgin Blue B737-700, taking the 711nm trip from Brisbane in South Queensland, to Cairns in the North. The flight sees us follow the golden coastline of Queensland for our flight of approximately 2 and a half hours.

Our Boeing 737-700 sits at gate 23 at YBBN, basking in the dawn light, as we prepare the aircraft for our short trip up the Queensland coast

Taxiing past the international terminal, where the heavies are waiting

Takeoff clearance is received, and we line up and wait on Brisbane's RWY01

Powering away from Brisbane at Vr of 144kts, on the CORAL4 departure

Just moments after the departure, and some very threatening looking clouds come into view, almost obscuring the Brisbane coast already

We have now reached our cruise altitude, and the weather is now fine, with just a scattering of clouds obscuring the beautiful view of the coast

Our aircraft, VH-VBH, is named "Spirit of Salty" after the late Ron Salter Snr, Virgin Blue's Head of Engineering. The now retired aircraft left Boeing's Seattle HQ on March 1 2002, and arrived in Brisbane for delivery to VOZ on March 3, having made stops in Honolulu and Nadi en route to YBBN

A beautiful view as far as the eye can see as we prepare for our descent into Cairns

Passing through the cloud at FL280

Passing through FL270 as we program in our arrival route into YBCS, via the UPOLO4B arrival procedure for Cairns' RWY15

Banking left prior to localiser interception for our ILS approach

The mountainous backdrop of Cairns provides stunning views for the passengers on one side of the aircraft

Moments before touchdown in Cairns

And we're down! Spoilers engaged, reverse thrust in action

Just a few minutes later and our passengers are disembarking, as some ominous looking clouds roll in. We have 1 hour and 15 minutes to prepare the aircraft for the journey south back to Brisbane.