Local plane spotter Travis W has shared some truly magnificent photos he captured as the massive Ukrainian cargo aircraft parked on Gate 6 at the Southern end of the Rockhampton Airport apron.
Soon after, the Antonov commenced unloading with the its front landing gear being raised and the aircraft placed into its unique 'kneeling' position to allow the unloading of its cargo. On this flight, four Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) Boeing AH-64D Apache helicopters - believed to be serials '060', '067', '062' and '066' - were unloaded and towed to be parked beside the cross-Runway 04/22.
As this post is being written, the Antonov is expected to depart to Johor Bahru (Malaysia) in the wee small hours of Wednesday 7 September. It is expected to return to Rocky one final time at around 4am on Friday 9 September. I suspect that it will be carrying another two Chinook helicopters.
All the delivered helicopters so far look to be being put back together and will soon no doubt be test flown in preparation for the commencement of the Singapore Armed Force's Exercise Wallaby 2016 which will officially kick-off on Thursday 15 September.
Stay tuned to the CQ Plane Spotting Blog for more great photos of this and the other fantastic aircraft and helicopters that will be paying Rockhampton Airport a visit over the next few weeks as we welcome the Singapore Armed Forces back to participate in Exercise Wallaby 2016.
Sincere thanks to local plane spotters 'IAD' Travis W and Trevor H for taking the time to capture and send through these great photos of the Antonov 124 at Rockhampton Airport!
Photos taken by 'IAD', Travis Whiting and Trevor Hardsman ©
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