QGAir Rescue (State of Queensland) Agusta AW139 Helicopter VH-EZJ Ferries North via Gladstone and Mackay Airports

Also on Sunday 25 November, Queensland Government (QGAir) Rescue (State of Queensland) Agusta AW139 helicopter VH-EZJ was also noted ferrying North through Central Queensland Airports.

VH-EZJ at Gladstone Airport earlier this year  (File photo)

It initially departed from Archerfield bound for Gladstone Airport but diverted back to Archerfield.  A couple of hours later, it departed again and eventually landed at Gladstone and Mackay Airports to Townsville and then Cairns.

While VH-EZJ has been operating out of Archerfield around the South East corner in recent days as "Rescue 500", it seems to heading to Cairns Airport to replace fellow QGAir Rescue AW139 VH-ESH which has been operating in Far North Queensland as "Rescue 510".  I presume that VH-ESH will ferry South in the coming days to Archerfield where it will undergo planned maintenance.

UPDATE!  Indeed on Tuesday 27 November, VH-ESH ferried South from Cairns to Archerfield via Townsville, Mackay and Gladstone Airports.

As we have mentioned previously, this is part of the 'rotational system' the service utilises to ensure the even distribution of flying hours on each of the QGAir Rescue helicopters.  This system avoids the need to have multiple helicopters offline for simultaneous scheduled maintenance.

Finally, I note with interest that in the last week, a pair of brand new Leonardo S.P.A. Helicopters (Agusta) AW139 - VH-EGF and VH-EGK - have been registered to QGAir (State of Queensland) at Archerfield.  These should possibly join the QGAir fleet soon.

Photo taken by Col B  ©