Virgin Australia Regional Airlines (VARA) ATR 72-500 VH-FVM Finally Departs Rockhampton Airport

The broken-down Virgin Australia Regional Airlines (VARA) ATR 72-500 - registered VH-FVM - that has been grounded at Rockhampton Airport, and receiving maintenance attention, since hitting a bat while on approach last Friday, has finally departed the beef capital on Friday 9 January.

File photo taken by Phil M  ©

It departed as VOZ9520 on a re-positioning flight to Brisbane.

As shown in the photo above - and in our post below - work which included having a patch applied just above the 1st officer's pitot/static ports was completed on the ATR.  In amongst the rain the engineers were patching, sanding and curing with heat lamps and the aid of the shelter.

VH-FVM was due to depart earlier in the week after completing engine runs but remained grounded until today.