Brindabella Airlines BAe Jetstream 41 (and more!) at Gladstone Airport Thursday

Brindabella Airlines British Aerospace BAe Jetstream J-41 VH-TAI operated a charter into Gladstone Airport on Thursday 10 May.

File photo

It arrived from Brisbane and departed to Roma as FQ41.

Also noted at Gladstone Airport on Thursday 10 May was Cessna 402B VH-RLX which is registered to Papam Pty Ltd.  This is a South-East Queensland-based land survey company.

VH-RLX was reportedly at Gladstone to survey various coal piles around the Gladstone Ports, to determine the weight of how much coal is currently stored.  They utilise specialised land survey equipment, and measure the dimensions of each coal stock (including height) from the air, and with that information are able to determine how much tonnage of coal is currently stored to within an accuracy of half-of-a-percentage (0.5%).

Another frequent visitor to the region also popped into Gladstone Airport from Archerfield in the form Piper PA-31 Navajo VH-PJU.  VH-PJU has made several trips to Gladstone over the past few days (and weeks), with more to come in future weeks.  Currently, the aircraft is flying construction personnel between Archerfield, Gladstone and Dalby.

The fuel capacity of VH-PJU is interesting - it has 2 tanks per wing, with one rated at 144 litres and the other at 204 liters, giving a total fuel capacity of 696 ltrs. On average, that allows for a flying distance of about 700 miles / 1120 km's, and because this particular plane does not have oxygen onboard (other Piper Navajo's and Chieftan's do) VH-PJU is generally restricted to a cruising altitude of between 8000-10000 ft.

Another good day's plane spotting!