Four Australian Army NH Industries MRH-90 Multi-Role Helicopters Spotted at Emerald Airport

On Wednesday 20 September, I ventured to Emerald with my lovely wife on our anniversary and as luck would have it, when I popped into Emerald Airport, there were four Australian Army NH Industries MRH-90 Multi-Role Helicopters parked on the apron preparing for departure.

Sadly, I was only able to manage some photos on the phone as (of course) I didn't bring my camera with me!

All four had arrived a little while earlier from the South, flying under the one formation callsign of "Cowboy".

The four MRH-90s are believed to be flown by 'A Squadron' of the 5th Aviation Regiment based at Townsville and were identified as A40-009, A40-013, A40-019 and A40-035.

After each took on fuel, it was noted that each of the MRH-90s departed to Townsville, flying different tracks and using different radio callsigns including:  "Destrier 40", "Destrier 74", "Destrier 69" and "Destrier 66".

It's also worth noting that on Tuesday 19 September, another Australian Army MRH-90 A40-042 was noted departing Gladstone Airport for Townsville as "Warhorse 88".

Despite not having a good camera to take photos, it was still a nice sight and sound to see these military helicopters up close at Emerald Airport!

UPDATE!  Late on Wednesday 20 September, an unidentified MRH-90 flying as "Saxon 86" was heard to declare a "PAN" and made a forced landing at Hervey Bay (Fraser Coast) Airport following reports of multiple birdstrikes.  It seemed to depart ok a little later.

FURTHER UPDATE!  Then on Thursday 21 September, another unidentified MRH-90 flying as "Saxon 46" was heard to also land at Hervey Bay (Fraser Coast) Airport.

"Saxon" is the radio callsign of the School of Army Aviation at Oakey.