QGAir Rescue Agusta AW139 Helicopters VH-ESH & VH-EZJ Ferry North and South via Gladstone and Mackay Airports

On Friday 27 January, it was interesting to note that a pair of Queensland Government (QGAir) Rescue (State of Queensland) Agusta AW139 helicopters VH-ESH and VH-EZJ simultaneously ferried North from Archerfield to Cairns and South from Cairns to Archerfield via both Gladstone and Mackay Airports.

VH-ESH at Mackay Airport in 2016  (File photo)

VH-ESH was noted ferrying from Archerfield to Cairns via Gladstone and Mackay Airports.  Of interest, it has only this week been operating around the South-East corner of Queensland on med-evac flights as "Rescue 500".  And almost immediately after arriving into Cairns, it was noted completing med-evac flights in the region as "Rescue 510".

Meanwhile, VH-EZJ was noted ferrying South from Cairns to Archerfield via Mackay and Gladstone Airports.

VH-EZJ has been operating out of Cairns Airport as "Rescue 510" during the early part of this week and I presume that it has ferried South as a part of their maintenance 'rotational system'.  This is reportedly designed to ensure the even distribution of flying hours on each of their helicopters, thus avoiding the need to have multiple helicopters offline for simultaneous scheduled maintenance.  QGAir helicopters usually ferry one day after another so having two ferry at one and cross paths is certainly a new occurrence.

Photo taken by 'AC'  ©