Qantas was honoured to operate a number of Royal tour flights over the decades. Today, Qantas shares in the sadness as the world mourns the passing of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II. Our Qantas Captain, Georgina Sutton, reflects on her experience flying Queen Elizabeth II. "I had the honour of flying Her Majesty and the Duke of Edinburgh on a Qantas flight back in 1992 and it was the highlight of my entire career. I was a young Second Officer on the 747, our own Queen of the Skies, and was thrilled to operate the London to Singapore leg of their flight to Sydney for their Australian tour. "I remember the excitement I felt at watching from the cockpit as she walked from the VIP lounge at Heathrow Airport across the tarmac, along a red carpet and up the stairs with her trademark handbag over her arm. It was a bit surreal. One of my jobs was to access a hatch in the roof of the flight deck where we had a special-purpose built bracket built by our engineers to mount the royal ensign flag through the roof of the aircraft to indicate that she was “in residence”. "Both the Queen and Prince Philip signed a photo as a gift to the crew, such a lovely gesture, it has pride of place in my study at home. The cocktail of choice served in the cabin on the flight that night was a dubonnet and gin. Tonight, I will have one in her honour. Vale Queen Elizabeth II.” Captain Georgina Sutton, Qantas Pilot