The Last Flight of VH-EBQ
In late 2002, shortly after the demise of Ansett, Qantas retired their last Boeing 747-200 series jet, having made way fully for the -300 and newer -400 series version of the 747. The old girl was destined, like her sisters retired before her, for the scrapyard in Arizona USA when someone came up with the idea to donate it to the Qantas museum. With no passenges, no cargo and very little fuel, it departed Sydney on it's last ever flight bound for Longreach, Queensland (where Qantas was born). It made an incredible landing on a dirt airstrip half the size required for a Boeing 747. The experts scoffed at the idea, telling Qantas they'd never pull it off - but they did it, they got her down in one piece, and she now rests as a museum exhibit - saved from the axe of the scrapper and there for all to see for generations of enthusiests to come.