Ex Hamel 2018 - More Great Australian Defence Force (ADF) Aircraft and Helicopter Action at Rockhampton Airport on Sunday

With the Australian Defence Force's (ADF) Military Exercise Hamel 2018 starting in the nearby Shoalwater Bay Training Area (SWBTA), there were yet more nice helicopters and aircraft to pop into Rockhampton Airport during Sunday 17 June.

During the morning, another pair of Australian Army NH Industries MRH-90 Multi-Role Helicopters looked to arrive into Rockhampton Airport from Oakey again (like yesterday) flying in formation as "Knights Red".  The MRH-90s were identified as A40-031 (again) and A40-004.  After taking two loads each of passengers into Shoalwater Bay, they both returned in formation back to Oakey.

Some of the passengers on the MRH-90s came from Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Canadair CL-600-2B16 Challenger 604 bizjet A37-003 which was spotted arriving into Rockhampton Airport from Canberra as "Consort 10".  At the time of writing, it appears that the Challenger is still parked at Rockhampton Airport.

While there are no longer any RAAF Alenia C-27J Spartan transport aircraft parked at Rockhampton Airport, A34-002 "Wallaby 32" was noted departing Shoalwater Bay for RAAF Base Amberley.  While A34-005 "Wallaby 05" was noted also completing a couple of sorties into Shoalwater Bay from and back to Amberley.

And for the third day in a row, Royal Australian Navy (RAN) NH Industries MRH-90 Multi-Role Helicopter A40-043 was noted flying in and out of Rockhampton Airport between Shoalwater Bay and HMAS Canberra as "Poseidon 43".

Soon after the sun had gone down, a pair of unidentified Australian Army Eurocopter (ARH) Tiger Armed Reconnaissance Helicopters were noted completing airwork at Rockhampton Airport as "Ghost 61" and "Ghost 62".

Finally, as predicted, RAAF Airbus A330-200 / KC-30A Multi Role Tanker Transport (MRTT) aircraft A39-002 returned to Rockhampton Airport again from Sydney this time as "Dragon 16".

At the time of writing, A39-002 has sustained a technical problem and remains parked at Rockhampton Airport.

UPDATE!  A39-002 "Dragon 16" eventually was able to depart Rockhampton Airport for RAAF Base Amberley later in the evening.

Sincere thanks again to all the local plane spotters for their help with compiling this Blog post - from all the information supplied to all the wonderful photos that have been shared!  Cheers guys!

Photos taken by 'IAD' and Jaxson White  ©