A Couple of Photos of Whitsunday Tiger Moth Adventures DH-82A VH-ARU and new VH-GAV

It's was an eventful weekend for the Whitsunday Tiger Moth Adventures with their distinctive red 1942-built De Havilland DH-82A Tiger Moth VH-ARU forced to make an emergency landing at Funnel Bay near Airlie Beach on Saturday 2 July when the plane's propeller started making a strange noise while on one of its popular aerobatic joyflights.

http://www.whitsundaytimes.com.au/

Reports suggest that the plane's in-flight camera was moved by something "flying back" from the propeller suggesting that the Tiger Moth may have encountered a bird strike.  However, no assumptions are being made and the incident has been reported to the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB).

The pilot, Nick Rorison has been hailed a hero by fellow aviators and the community alike following his actions in getting the Tiger Moth safely on the ground in one piece and without injury to him and his passenger.

Meanwhile, last week I was fortunate to finally meet up with Nick who was very generous in allowing me to capture some photos of VH-ARU, as well as their recently delivered 1943-built DH-82A VH-GAV.

It appears that VH-GAV - which is painted up as A17-423 (RAAF) and is powered by a 130hp Gypsy Major engine - had previously operated in South Australia before being purchased in Atherton in North Queensland.

VH-GAV is currently not flying.