Disappointment reigned through the Sydney area, as Google’s scheduled flyover for photographing the Australian city had to be altered to suit aviation requirements.
Mild disenchantment hit a number of people when no-fly zones prevented Google from cruising its desired flight path over Sydney Harbor. Google had encouraged people to make themselves visible during the flyover:
Google Australia is celebrating Australia Day 2007 by photographing Sydney Harbour from the air, and we want to make sure as many of us as possible squeeze into the picture.
So when you see the Google branded plane flying overhead this January 26th, hoist a sign, arrange your family into a fun formation or just get a bunch of friends together to wave.
Someone at the Googleplex must have been a little too excited about the promotion to consider the advisory made by air traffic controllers about its planned flight path, the Sydney Morning Herald reported:
Among those missing out on the photo opportunity of a lifetime was a company that had spent $10,000-plus on a sign, an environmental group which organised 200 supporters to form themselves into a slogan on Bondi Beach and a man who drove from Wollongong to Sydney with a message that he hoped would help win back his estranged wife.
“The positive public response to this initiative has been overwhelming and we are very grateful to everyone who took part,” said Lars Rasmussen, the head of engineering at Google Australia. “While we made every effort to capture as much as we could on the day, unfortunately some people may be disappointed.
Several people waited for much of the day for Google’s plane, which air traffic controllers were preventing from flying over parks and beaches. Weather conditions noted by the Herald’s blog caused the change in plan:
And that was because the winds on Friday morning meant that commercial aviation taking off from Sydney Airport had to veer right over the eastern suburbs – over the area where the plane that Google had chartered was due to pass over.
Now for the conspiracy theorists out there: Microsoft also performed Sydney flyovers for its Australia Day event, and flew over the areas denied to Google’s plane. The Microsoft flight may have been at a higher altitude during the approximate same period of time.
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David Utter is a staff writer for Murdok covering technology and business.
