Rockhampton Airport's main Runway 15/33 remained affected by flood water on Sunday 27 January. At one stage, it reportedly operated at a reduced length of around 1770 meters, however, it was slightly longer Sunday morning. As the day went on, workers were continuing to attempt to open more of the Runway however, there were still aircraft unable to land and being forced to divert Gladstone and Townsville.
QantasLink (Cobham Aviation) Boeing B717-200 VH-NXG - operating as QJE1730 - diverted to Gladstone Airport (where it is pictured below by Jamie C) after circling around Rockhampton for some time. The Flightaware website also showed Virgin Australia (Skywest Airlines) ATR 72-600 VH-FVN - operating as VOZ1239 - diverting to Townsville.
Another Virgin ATR 72-600 VH-FVP was also shown to circle around Rockhampton Airport for some time before eventually landing successfully.
As the afternoon wore on, there were as many as five aircraft holding above Rockhampton Airport waiting to land. These aircraft eventually landed without incident, although some were noted to land with 'priority'.
Rockhampton Plane Spotting 'IAD' sent through some images of the afternoon's action.
QantasLink Dash-8-Q400's VH-QOW, VH-QOA, and Next Gen VH-LQB were all noted.
Virgin Australia Embraer E-190 VH-ZPM was one of the few jets to land and depart.
One of the highlights of the dreary day was Skytrans Dash-8-100 VH-QQE which touched down from Townsville as SKP7502. It later departed to Bundaberg.
VH-QQE still wears the livery of Maroomba Airlines - a Perth based charter company in Western Australia. Skytrans operates as many as three Dash-8 aircraft in Western Australia for Maroomba.
Lastly, 'IAD' spotted some of the visiting helicopters that have been based out of Rockhampton flying fodder drops, and other sorties out of the Airport. On the Northern end of the Airport apron sat three Mackay-based helicopters in the form of:
Whitsunday Helicopters Aerospatiale AS.350BA VH-HBZ.
And Mackay Helicopters (Aviation Tourism Australia) Bell 430 VH-HIA and Bell 222 VH-TOR.
On the General Aviation apron, Eurocopter EC130B4 VH-EHY of Avalon Aviation in Brisbane sat waiting for its next flight.
Rockhampton now is playing a waiting game, with residents being advised that the region will face an eight-metre-plus Fitzroy River flood next weekend. We wish Rockhampton residents all the best.
All photos taken by IAD and Jamie C ©
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