Anyone know which side of the plane is best for an incoming view of the opera house when flying uk to sydney via abu dhabi

Wouldn't it depend on wind directions and weather in Sydney at the time of arrival?

Yup, impossible to tell in advance.......depends on the wind....I'd say my approaches to Sydney have been 50/50 from the North/South.

Never realised that, thank you

The most commonly used approach is from the North, the path runs from the west of Hornsby, down the North Shore and crosses the Harbour with the Bridge to your left. So the ideal side to sit on is the left.

Having said that - depending on the wind direction you could be approaching from the east (over the ocean) which means you'd travel down the coast first with the city on your right. Meaning, of course that you'd need to be sitting on the right to get the best view.

have a watch of this to work it out...

http://syd.webtrak-lochard.com/template/index.html

Arriving from south-east Asia, my most common approach has been from the south, in which case we often haven't seen the harbour and the bridge at all. I suppose about a third of the time I have come in from the north, in which case the port side is almost always the best side. Sometimes too the plane gets into a "stack" and circles before landing, in which case you're more likely to see the centre of the city from the port side as well.

So I'd say sit on the left.

most typically, arriving from North, so sit on right

If the plane actually lands from the north then the city and harbour views are out to the left (you can see that from the map thingy that Pommy Dan linked).

Often if you come from Brisbane you come from the north but pass the northern beaches and city out on the right hand side (which is an even better view anyway), continue past the city then make a turn out to sea to come from the southerly direction. Not sure that a flight coming from the west would make the same approcah though.

Good point, didn't reallyt hink through the arrival from west bit

In the good old days, you could suck up to the flight staff, get into the cockpit, then you would always see it!

Unless of course something went horribly wrong!

TD

it won't make any difference, as the flight will probably be delayed and it will be dark when you arrive

It has spot lights on it at night

I've seen it more times sitting on the left hand side than the other coming in from UK but it really depends on which way they land. If they land over water you can see it in the far distance from the RHS of the plane but if they land over the city you just look down from the LHS of the plane and feel like you are almost in the courtyard of the Opera House

I remember those good old days. They used to come and collect all the children and take them to meet the pilots!! Things changed fast.


You can sometimes make out landmarks better when arriving at night (as all the main stuff is lit up). I've had this experience in places like Paris, London and Kuala Lumpur. Every time I've arrived in Sydney at night I've found it much more spectacular than arriving during the day.