A Busy Tuesday at Gladstone Airport as Virgin Australia Boeing B737-800 VH-YIR Pops In Twice – Plus More!

In what could be a further move to clear the ‘backlog’ from Monday, Virgin Australia again operated the larger Boeing B737-800 into Gladstone Airport early on Tuesday 17 September.  After VH-YIS operated under the cover of darkness (see Blog Post below), VH-YIR operated into the port city twice during Tuesday morning.

VH-YIR initially touched down early as VOZ1707.

Before departing back to Brisbane as VOZ1710.

Local plane spotter Jamie C was on hand to capture some truly spectacular images of VH-YIR.

Then, as a pleasant surprise, VH-YIR returned to Gladstone again from Brisbane as VOZ1709.

And later departed back there as VOZ1712.

Meanwhile, one other notable visitor into Gladstone Airport on Tuesday 17 September was Emergency Management Queensland (EMQ) / Queensland Government (State of Queensland) Agusta AW139 Helicopter VH-ESH which was making its way North to Cairns from Archerfield.  It also called into Mackay while on its journey North.

As Jamie’s photos show, it was certainly a busy morning at Gladstone Airport on Tuesday!

On the commercial scene, there was the usually variety of QantasLink aircraft into Gladstone Airport on Tuesday 17 September.  Dash-8-Q300 VH-TQD was caught by Jamie as it arrived from Rockhampton and then later departed to Brisbane on the last leg of the QLK2301 'milk run' from Cairns.

He also captured some spectacular photos of QantasLink (Cobham Aviation) Boeing B717-200s VH-NXR and VH-NXQ as they passed through Gladstone Airport on Tuesday.

Lastly, on the lighter side of Gladstone Airport over the last couple of days, Brescon Beech B200 VH-WXN called into Gladstone Airport from Toowoomba on Tuesday 17 September.

Meanwhile, on Monday 16 September, Sunshine Coast-based Piper PA-28-140 VH-MFV was spotted by Jamie, along with Beech V35 Bonanza VH-DYK.

Sincere thanks to Jamie C for sending through his fantastic photos from a couple of great days plane spotting action at Gladstone Airport - and at the time of writing this post - there looks to be more highlights coming up!

All photos taken by Jamie C  ©