The totally off-topic thread

[QF WP]

I've taken some, let me see if I can post from my mobile

 

[QF WP]

This was the 1pm view walking along James Street, Fortitude Valley looking towards the City:

20 minutes later (I decided to head back to work, as the cloud in the LHS of the picture had a green tinge):

Sent from my iPhone using AFF Mobile

 

[QF WP]

Back safely in my office ~ 1.30pm, a photo up Robertson Street to the City. You can see the wind has started to roll the clouds and on the LHS is the green tinge of hail

OMG, 5 minutes later, the wind is really pushing the cloud bank north at a rate of knots. My staff and I were worried at this stage. The lights in our office, projecting out, makes this picture look deceptively light....it wasn't!

Sent from my iPhone using AFF Mobile

 

[samh004]

I don't think I have ever been anywhere in total darkness in the middle of the day.

Anyone able to take some photos of Brisbane and post them here?

A few years ago a microburst appeared in my suburb in the middle of the day that bent the pine trees to right angles and reduced visibility to a few metres, then just as quickly as it had arrived it left and it was sunny again.

Yesterday the hail was heaviest around Loganlea in the train, and I saw many cars parked under bridges and overpasses trying to escape the hail, but wasn’t at a seat where I could easily take a photo.

No hail down here today, but a little bit of rain an hour ago. It’s brightening up again now.

 

[anat0l]

We had quite a few "skips" in the electricity supply here, with lights flickering, brief lapses in computer supply (some computers restarting, some luckily not), etc.

Access to external internet (i.e. sites which are not in the university's domain or intranet) was also cut for a while, now is just rather unreliable.

The lifts in our building are out of order; inter-floor travel is via the fire stairs.

I'm going home as I'm finding it hard to put up with the in-and-out internet.

 

[JohnK]

There's a pretty good photo on the Courier Mail site.

That is a nice photo.

Nice photos as well Lindsay.

The weather is becoming totally unpredictable.

 

[markis10]

That is a nice photo.

Nice photos as well Lindsay.

The weather is becoming totally unpredictable.

Storm season at this time of the year is entirely predictable, its about a month later than normal.

 

[NM]

And this is what it looks like around 5pm.

The weather is moving north-east

 

[medhead]

One of the things I miss most about Brisbane -summer storms

I don't think I have ever been anywhere in total darkness in the middle of the day.

I have, worked for 2.5 years at an underground mine.

 

[Mal]

SYD airport is all messed up tonight due to the storms in BNE and earlier storms in SYD....

 

[MissBurrill]

I arrive back in Brisbane the day after the drinks. It's raining in Eaton's Hill. Burritos and beer tonight.

 

[Mal]

And things are still messed up flight wise.

Last flight from BNE to SYD cancelled. I believe an NTL flight was also cancelled.

~150pax lining up for hotels.

My flight back from SYD had no catering (bar booze). We were "parked" over Gold Coast for ~20 mins due to storm activity in BNE.

I moved my flight forward... a couple of earlier flights than mine hadn't left when I left SYD and my original flight is marked as 30 mins delay (at the moment ... I think it will scrape to get out before curfew tbh)

 

[straitman]

And this is what it looks like around 5pm.

The weather is moving north-east

Ouch :!:

Not a lot of fun.

 

[medhead]

I'm glad you got back Mal. Sorry we didn't catch up.

For me the storms were a bit of a godsend. They happily moved me from the 20:45 to 17:25 flight to ADL. Also moving from 4F on a 734 to 4E on a 738, and a snack flight to a dinner flight. Even with an hour or so delay on departure, I still was driving out of the airport 15 minutes before my original departure time.

 

[NM]

Ouch :!:

Not a lot of fun.

And not much better looking almost 5 hours later :shock:

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Quick duty free run tomorrow am. Will see if I can Jedi Mind Trick the others into not buying duty free ie "you're not buying any duty free today are you" type rhetorical question & see how I go.

Should stop lurking on the forums now, go iron shirt & set alarm clock for 0400! :shock: :shock:

 

[Mal]

I'm glad you got back Mal. Sorry we didn't catch up.

Yeah, no issues about not catching up - it happens

My original flight just landed into BNE a minute ago (60 min late)
The JQ flight I was tracking also snuck under the curfew and left @ 22:55.

Saw one lady in tears at the T3 transfer desk. She'd obviously missed her Intl flight, but I do wonder what the real story was - separate carriers&tickets or pre-committed arrangements etc. Saw another lady being given a print-out, so assume she was sorted out with a hotel for the night and a re-book tomorrow.

Moral of the story ... Storms happen in Summer! Prepare for them!

 

[JohnK]

Moral of the story ... Storms happen in Summer! Prepare for them!

Not easy to prepare unless one ensures any transits are overnights and the next days flights are in the evening.

I have flown quite a lot in the last 8 years but I have not encountered anything as bizarre as what has been happening the last couple of years.

 

[Mal]

I have flown quite a lot in the last 8 years but I have not encountered anything as bizarre as what has been happening the last couple of years.

Both SYD and BNE have had frequent Summer storms in December type timeframe. I can't see any difference, except perhaps, that the cycle is turning towards more frequent and heavier storms.

Perhaps airports close quicker when storms approach - for example, the technology with detection of lightning strike locations is improving -- so they can know when one occurs within X km of the airport. Likewise, prediction and observation capability of forecasters is getting better -- perhaps this also leads into more aircraft disruption...

 

[medhead]

Saw one lady in tears at the T3 transfer desk. She'd obviously missed her Intl flight, but I do wonder what the real story was - separate carriers&tickets or pre-committed arrangements etc.

I don't really know this but can the transfer desk be used with separate carriers?

On my flight the first officer said we'd be at 28k feet, a bit lower than normal, to try to make up as much time as possible. Maybe a bit on topic; but I was slightly surprised by this as I thought flying higher was faster, in general, because of the thinner air meaning less resistance. I guess with less oxygen at altitude the engine is less efficiency, but isn't that why the air gets compressed by the engine hence giving similar speed at all heights. I realise that there are varying winds at different altitudes.

I'd appreciate any guidance, would the lower altitude be due to wind speed/direction or is there a more fundamental physical explanation for being faster at slightly lower altitude?