Also Spotted at Mackay Airport Thursday and Friday

Well the Army Chinooks were by far the highlight of a couple of days at Mackay Airport, but I did see a few other noteworthy aircraft and helicopters.

On Thursday 5 July, I spotted a few interesting light General Aviation aircraft that are mostly flown by local operators at Mackay Airport.  Island Air operates transfer flight to nearby Keswick Island - part of the Whitsunday Islands - from Mackay Airport with Gippsland GA-8 Airvan VH-WIQ.  It is pictured returning from one such transfer.

Australasian Jet Beech 58 Baron VH-TTH is a common site flying charters to Central Queensland airports, but is based at Mackay Airport.

Also operated by Australasian Jet is Cessna 206 VH-IEW which is pictured undergoing maintenance at Chrisair - the main aircraft maintenance provider at Mackay Airport - stay tuned to the CQ Plane Spotting Blog for a feature on Chrisair in coming weeks!

Piper PA-23-250 Aztec VH-ZHZ is operated by Horizon Air - a flight training and charter flight company that operates from Mackay Airport.

Also operated by Horizon Air - and pictured parked on their apron outside their hangar on the Eastern side of Mackay Airport - are Cessna 172 VH-YHZ and Cessna 206 VH-XHZ - both are recent additions to the fleet!

There was a also a wide variety of commercial movements as well.  On Thursday 5 July, Virgin Australia Boeing B737-800 VH-YFK was photographed arriving just on dusk from Brisbane as DJ617.

Early on Friday 6 July, another Virgin Australia B737-800 - VH-VOK - is pictured departing Mackay Airport as DJ600.  This aircraft stayed overnight after arriving as DJ621.

QantasLink operates various types of aircraft at Mackay Airport with Alliance Airlines Fokker F-100 VH-XWP and Cobham Aviation Boeing B717-200 VH-NXN both photographed operating QantasLink flights to and from Brisbane.  QantasLink also utilises Sunstate Airlines Dash-8 aircraft as well.

Alliance Airlines Fokker F-100 VH-XWP is shown departing early on Friday 6 July as UTY2511 to Brisbane on behalf of QantasLink.

Cobham B717-200 VH-NXN is shown departing to Brisbane as QF1768.

Skytrans Airlines Dash-8-300 VH-QQP was also spotted at Mackay Airport on Friday 6 July operating a fly-in fly-out (FIFO) charter from and back to Clermont.  VH-QQP is shown departing to Clermont as SKP851.

Skytrans operates 4 FIFO charter flights between Mackay and Clermont each week - Monday and Thursday nights, and Tuesday and Friday mornings.

Lastly, Whitsunday Helicopters (Whitsunday Helicopter Group) parked their two striking red Aerospatiale AS350B Squirrel helicopters outside of their hangar on the Eastern side of Mackay Airport, making for a nice photo!

A great couple of days!