VH-OQA Airbus A380-842

The order for twelve aircraft was first announced by Qantas Airways - November 29, 2000

The order was firmed up with Airbus by Qantas Airways - March 06, 2001

Rolled off Airbus production line at Toulouse as 'F-WWSK'

Engines first run at Toulouse - January 16, 2008

Performed rejected take-off trials - January 21, 2008

First flown at Toulouse as 'F-WWSK' in green primer with old 'Qantas' tail - January 25, 2008

Ferried Toulouse - Hamburg (Finkenwerder) as AIB014B - January 30, 2008

The cabin interior was fitted at Hamburger (Finkenwerder)

Rolled out at Hamburg (Finkenwerder) in the Qantas 'New Roo' livery - May 31, 2008

Test flown Hamburg (Finkenwerder) - Hamburg (Finkenwerder) after the interior fitout - August 19, 2008

Ferried Hamburg (Finkenwerder) - Toulouse as AIB014F - August 30, 2008

Entered onto the Australian Aircraft Register as VH-OQA - September 04, 2008

Registered to Qantas Airways Ltd, Sydney

Undertook aerial photographic shoot from Toulouse - September 05, 2008

Accepted by Qantas Airways at Toulouse - September 19, 2008

Departed Toulouse on the delivery on delivery flight to Australia as QF6008 - September 19, 2008

It arrived at Sydney (Kingsford Smith) on completion of the delivery flight - September 21, 2008

Flight crew: Captains Murray Crockett, Peter Probert, Steve Ager, Cameron Herbet, and John Killingback

Delivery route: Toulouse - Singapore - Sydney

Registered to QF BOC 2008-1 Pty Ltd - September 24, 2008

Leased to Qantas Airways Ltd, Sydney as the registered operator

The aircraft was named 'Nancy-Bird Walton' at Sydney by Nancy-Bird Walton - September 30, 2008

Operated the inaugural Qantas A380 service Melbourne (Tullamarine) - Los Angeles as QF93 - October 20, 2008

Flight crew: Captains Mal Steward and Alan Hennesy

Operated the inaugural Qantas A380 service Sydney (Kingsford Smith) - Los Angeles as QF11 - October 24, 2008

Flew Memorial Flight Sydney - Sydney for State Funeral of Nancy-Bird Walton as QF6601 - January 21, 2009

Flight crew: Captain M. Crocket; F/O T. Kramer, D. Pudney

Ferried London (Heathrow) - Frankfurt for 'C' Check with Lufthansa Technik as QF6020 - September 14, 2010

Ferried Frankfurt - Singapore - Sydney on completion of the 'C' Check as QF6020 - October 06 - 08, 2010

Returned to service Sydney (Kingsford Smith) - Los Angeles as QF11 - October 10, 2010

It was badly damaged when it sustained an uncontained engine fire in Number 2 engine - November 04, 2010

The aircraft was operating the London - Singapore - Sydney service as QF32

It had taken off from Singapore and was flying over Batam Island, Indonesia when the engine exploded

It was under the command Captain Richard Champion de Crespigney and 5 technical crew

No injuries were sustained by the 440 passengers and 24 cabin crew

The aircraft landed safely at Singapore having suffered multiple systems failures

Extensive damage was caused to the engines, wings and fuselage from the engine explosion and fire

It was placed in storage at Singapore pending further investigations and possible repairs

The aircraft had flown 8,533 hours with 1,843 cycles at the time of the accident

The accident investigation found that an oil fire in the HP/IP structure cavity had caused the failure of the IPT disc

The fire was the result of a faulty oil pipe fracturing in the Number 2 engine resulting in the fracture of turbine disc

Shrapnel punctured the wing cutting fuel and hydraulic lines and controls to the landing flaps

The jet's anti-lock brakes failed causing Number 1 & 4 engines into degraded mode

Repairs were commenced at Singapore - May 2011

Over 50 technicians from Airbus, Qantas and Singapore Engineering were involved

All engines were removed and replaced with modified units

The cost of these repairs were given by Airbus and Rolls Royce as being over $AUD 139 million

The work that was undertaken involved 87,000 hours of repair work on the aircraft itself

5,000 hours of design work with over 100 related design drawings created and 6.1 kilometres of wiring replaced

150 tonnes of air freighted parts were used including 220 different types of tools weighing 110 tonnes

14 forty-tonne trucks were required to move 18 aircraft jacks and related equipment to Hamburg Harbour

A one month sea voyage was required to move the jacks and related equipment to Singapore

The aircraft received a repaint where necessary by Singapore Airlines - April 2012

Rejected take-offs were carried out at Singapore - April 14, 2012

Test flown after the repairs were completed at Singapore as QF6001 - April 15 - 16 - 18 - 19, 2012

Departed Singapore on the ferry flight to Sydney (Kingsford Smith) as QF32 - April 21, 2012

It arrived at Sydney (Kingsford Smith) on completion of the ferry flight to a water cannon welcome - April 22, 2012

Captains Richard de Crespigny and David Evans, flight crew from original flight were guests on this ferry flight

The cabin crew who were aboard the original QF32 flight and were onboard this ferry flight included:

Customer Service Manager Michael von Reith, Customer Service Supervisors Annie Jostons and

Paul Wason along with 16 of the original cabin crew

Qantas CEO Alan Joyce and a large press contingent were also on board this flight

To view and download accident report click 'HERE'

To view the document '536 Days - The Return of VH-OQA' please click 'HERE'

Test flown at Sydney (Kingsford Smith) as QF6001 - April 23, 2012

Returned to service Sydney (Kingsford Smith) - Hong Kong as QF127 - April 28, 2012

Ferried Sydney (Kingsford Smith) - Dubai for maintenance and repainting as QF6011 - July 14, 2018

Ferried Dubai - Sydney (Kingsford Smith) in the new 'Silver Roo' livery as QF6012 - August 01, 2018

Returned to service - ?

Ferried Sydney (Kingsford Smith) - Abu Dhabi for planned maintenance as QF6011 - January 25, 2019

Operated last revenue service Darwin - Sydney (Kingsford Smith) as QF2 - March 28, 2020

Withdrawn from service and stored at Sydney (Kingsford Smith) due to the COVID-19 pandemic

Departed Sydney (14:28) on the ferry flight to Victorville as QF6003 - June 10, 2020

It arrived at Victorville (10:56 PDT) for storage - June 10, 2020

Flight time: 13 hours 8 minutes

Ferried Victorville - Los Angeles as QF6023 - September 24, 2022

Ferried Los Angeles - London (Heathrow) as QF6011 - November 17, 2022

Ferried London (Heathrow) - Abu Dhabi as QF6011 - November 18, 2022

Major maintenance and a cabin seating upgrade was performed at Abu Dhabi

Test flown Abu Dhabi (15:43 - 17:17 local) as QF6064 - April 04, 2024

Departed Abu Dhabi (17:07 UTC) on the ferry flight to Australia as QF6014 - April 05, 2024

It arrived at Sydney (Kingsford Smith - 13:40 AEDT) on completion of the ferry flight - April 06, 2024

Flight time: 13 hours 32 minutes

Returned to service Sydney (Kingsford Smith) - Los Angeles as QF11 - April 06, 2024

Current with Qantas Airways