Friday, June 17, 2016

Pacific Helicopters Ltd (PNG) Airbus Helicopters H145 ZK-HKR Passes Through Rockhampton and Whitsunday Airports

A stunning new helicopter was noted passing through CQ on Friday 17 June in the form of Pacific Helicopters Ltd (PNG) Airbus Helicopters H145 ZK-HKR.

https://www.facebook.com/whitsundayairport/

After flying into the Sunshine Coast from Bankstown via Coffs Harbour on Thursday, ZK-HKR continued North to Rockhampton and the Whitsunday Airport at Shute Harbour where it very nearly presented chopper was captured taking on fuel.

ZK-HKR then continued further North to Cairns where it looked to be spending the night.

UPDATE!  On Saturday 18 June, ZK-HKR was noted departing Cairns for Coen and Horn Island and - presumably - points further North to Papua New Guinea.

Meanwhile, a couple of other familiar Gladstone Helicopters / Helireef helicopters have been noted flying up and down the CQ coast between Gladstone and Mackay Airports with Eurocopter EC135 P2 VH-ZGZ and Eurocopter EC135-T1 VH-ZGI also noted calling into Rockhampton Airport while on their respective flights.

Finally, over the last couple of weeks, I've noted that at least four new (different) aircraft have arrived at the Whitsunday Airport for three of the local operators.  Most notable (in my opinion) has been the arrival of another De Havilland DH-82A Tiger Moth VH-GAV for the locally-based Whitsunday Tiger Moth Adventures.

http://www.adventuretigermoths.com/

It appears that VH-GAV - which is painted up as A17-423 (RAAF) and is powered by a 130hp Gypsy Major engine - had previously operated in South Australia before moving to Atherton in North Queensland.

A couple of Gippland Aeronautics / Gippsaero (Mahindra Aerospace) Airvans have also moved to the Whitsunday Airport with GA-8 VH-ASI arriving via Gladstone Airport for GSL Aviation and GA-8-TC 320 VH-YBA arriving via Emerald Airport for Skydive Airlie Beach.  Also for Skydive Airlie Beach, Cessna 208 Caravan VH-OAI arrived from Tully on Thursday 16 June and commenced operations replacing fellow Cessna 208 Caravan VH-DZZ which departed to the Illawarra Regional Airport at Wollongong early on Friday 17 June.

Nice!

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