Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Roulettes Aerobatic Display Team Perform Over Mackay Wednesday

The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Roulettes Aerobatic Display Team put on a fantastic performance over Bucasia Beach in Mackay on Wednesday 17 August.


About 500 onlookers watched the action from the sand dunes, including more than 300 Bucasia State School students, who soaked up the sunshine and enjoyed the Roulettes 'High Show' performance.

The Daily Mercury newspaper has posted an online photo gallery HERE.

Unfortunately, the Roulettes and their support aircraft, didn't stage through Mackay Airport as first thought.

Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) of Australia - Queensland Sector - Flight Number Callsigns

All of my recent trips to Rockhampton Airport have provided me with an opportunity to observe a recent change in the callsigns of Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) flights.

There is an RFDS regional base at Rockhampton Airport - on the General Aviation side of the Airport - where flights to and from the Airport operate 24-hours-a-day, 7-days-a-week.


The RFDS (Queensland Sector) have started using flight number callsigns rather than their previous callsigns based on the aircraft registration.

The new "fly-doc" callsign is followed by a number, which is believed to be associated with each individual aircraft. Each aircraft's callsign is also shown on the nosewheel door.


At this stage I have only observed several of the RFDS Hawker/Beechcraft and Raytheon B200 King Air aircraft flying under these callsigns. The RFDS also operates Pilatus PC-12/45 aircraft in Queensland.

Shown below all at Rockhampton Airport over the last few weeks are:

VH-FDA ("Fly-doc 401")


VH-FDT ("Fly-doc 436")


VH-FDM ("Fly-doc 478") This aircraft features a larger cargo door and winch system for easier patient transfer.



VH-FDI ("Fly-doc 467") This aircraft is based at Rockhampton and also features the larger cargo door and winch.


VH-FDW ("Fly-doc 447") This aircraft is also based at Rockhampton Airport.

New Arrivals at Rockhampton Airport Tuesday Morning

Two aircraft that have recently entered service were spotted by Don W at Rockhampton Airport early on Tuesday 16 August.

Firstly, Skytrans Airlines Dash-8-300 VH-QQM is pictured after being parked from the night before (see the Monday Night Emerald Movements Blog Post HERE).


Also noted was Alliance Airlines Fokker F-100 VH-XWR which was operating on behalf of QantasLink.

A Busy Day and Night at Emerald Airport Monday

As well as the usual six QantasLink (Sunstate Airlines) RPT flights between Brisbane and Emerald on Monday 15 August, there were no less than five other fly-in fly-out (FIFO) charter flights and a variety of other movements all noted.

Pictured parked at Gate 1 on the Emerald Airport apron is QantasLink Dash-8-Q400 VH-QOR with operated QF2406/2407.


Also pictured are two of three Skytrans flights from Brisbane.

Dash-8-100 VH-QQH arrived as SKP868 and quickly departed back to Brisbane as SKP869.



Dash-8-300 VH-QQM - which is still quite new - arrived as SKP870. It later departed to Rockhampton where it parked for the night due to the Emerald apron parking restrictions.



Also, Dash-8-100 VH-QQJ arrived at Emerald as SKP872 and overnighted.

Also pictured just after its arrival is Cessna 414A VH-JYY.  This aircraft usually flies various contractors to various sites around Emerald during the week.


Although not pictured, there was also a pair of Alliance Airlines Fokker F-100 FIFO charters, with VH-XWR noted in the morning, and VH-FWH seen flying out to Brisbane in the afternoon as UTY2231.

There were also three cargo flights noted with Advance Aviation Piper PA-32-300 VH-MSR and Beech 58 Baron VH-FLZ also arriving in the evening to meet the Toll Freight Metro 23F VH-HPE. The metro departed as TFX109 to Thangool.

More Information and Pictures of the Airborne Firefighting Aircraft Fighting Recent Rockhampton Bushfires

Don W popped into Rockhampton Airport last weekend and was lucky enough to photograph five of the aerial firefighting aircraft that spent most of the weekend fighting bushfires around Rockhampton (see also a previous Blog post HERE).

Rockhampton-based R-Mach Aviation Ayres S2R Turbo Thursh VH-NFF has been noted fighting the fires as "Bomber 407".


Another Turbo Thrush - VH-NFZ - which is operated by Aero Professional Services at Emerald, was noted flying as "Bomber 400".


Also pictured is Air Tractor AT802A VH-BQE, which is operated by Meandarra Aerial Spraying.


Another AT802A - VH-LHW - which is also operated by Meandarra Aerial Spraying was also photographed at Rockhampton Airport.


Lastly, Aerospatiale AS.350BA Squirrel Helicopter VH-HQO, which is operated by Australian Helicopters - usually out of Gladstone Airport - was also noted fighting the fires as "Firebird 427".

New Virgin Australia Boeing B737-800 Pops into Mackay Airport Sunday

Adam P in Mackay reports that Virgin Australia's latest Boeing B737-800 - VH-YIA - has made its first visit to Mackay on Sunday 14 August.


The lovely shiny new Boeing is pictured arriving mid-morning under gloomy skies as VOZ605 from Brisbane. It later departed as VOZ608 back to Brisbane.



Also shown above with VH-YIA, is Jetstar A320 VH-VGF, which was operating one of Jetstar's four daily flights between Brisbane and Mackay.

Adam P returned to the airport later in the day and captured QantasLink (Sunstate Airlines) Dash-8-Q400 VH-QOT departing to Brisbane.


Also visiting Mackay on Sunday 14 August was the Queensland Government Raytheon Hawker 850XP Bizjet.


It is pictured backtracking Mackay's Runway 14 for departure to Brisbane - note the Jetstar A320 at the terminal is VH-VQX.

Virgin Australia (Skywest Airlines operated) ATR 72-500 Brisbane-Gladstone Schedules Announced and First Aircraft Delivered

Virgin Australia has announced its timetable of flights that Skywest Airlines (on behalf of Virgin Australia) will operate with its new ATR 72-500 regional aircraft from October.


From Monday 17 October, Virgin Australia will fly twice daily return flights (morning and afternoon) between Brisbane and Gladstone on weekdays as follows:

DJ 1709 - departs Brisbane at 6.15am, arriving into Gladstone at 7.35am
DJ 1717 - departs Gladstone at 8.05am, arriving into Brisbane at 9.25am

DJ 1715 - departs Brisbane at 3.40pm, arriving into Gladstone as 5.00pm
DJ 1718 - departs Gladstone at 5.30pm, arriving into Brisbane at 6.50pm

This announcement comes as Skywest has taken delivery of the first ATR 72-500 it will operate for Virgin Australia, with the aircraft handed over at ATR’s Toulouse facility last week.


Leasing company (and Skywest associate company) Avation has four ATR 72-500s and four ATR 72-600s on order which Skywest will operate for Virgin Australia, with the remaining ATR 72-500s to be handed over this year, and the ATR 72-600s due for delivery in 2012, while options are held on a further five -600s.

Virgin Australia will also now operate a service from Brisbane to Port Macquarie and extra services between Canberra and Sydney.

The new ATR 72-500 turboprop regional airliner will be operated under an alliance with Skywest Airlines. Under the wet lease arrangement, Skywest will provide the technical and cabin crew and source the maintenance provider of the fleet.

Airborne Firefighting and Surveillance Aircraft Fighting Rockhampton Bushfires

Several bushfires have sprung up around the Rockhampton area in recent days, and Rockhampton-based and other water bombing and surveillance aircraft have been noted operating out of Rockhampton Airport.

Ben O saw some of the aerial action first hand from his front veranda, as a fire raged in the Mount Archer area, close to Rockhampton city.

Rockhampton-based R-Mach Aviation Ayres S2R Turbo Thursh VH-NFF has been noted fighting the fires as "Bomber 407".






Another Turbo Thrush - VH-NFZ - which is operated by Aero Professional Services at Emerald, was also captured by Ben O flying as "Bomber 400".





Also spotted by Ben O in the air over his house was Air Tractor AT802A VH-BQE, which is operated by Meandarra Aerial Spraying.










It is believed that another AT802A - VH-LHW - which is also operated by Meandarra Aerial Spraying is also in the Rockhampton Area.

Lastly, locally-based Cessna 182 VH-RDQ has been operating from the R-Mach Aviation hangar at Rockhampton Airport, and operates surveillance flights over the fire zone. It has been noted using the callsign "Spotter 403".



We thank Ben O and Don W for their information and photos, and hope that there has been minimal property damage.