QGAir Rescue Agusta AW139 Helicopter VH-EZJ Flys North via Rockhampton Airport - And LifeFlight Swaps Their Bell 412 Helicopter at Bundaberg Airport

On Sunday 1 October, Queensland Government (QGAir) Rescue (State of Queensland) Agusta AW139 helicopter VH-EZJ was noted ferrying North from Archerfield to Cairns via Rockhampton and Townsville Airports.  During some of the legs, it was noted using the radio callsign of "Rescue 510" which is the usual callsign of the Cairns-based chopper.

VH-EZJ at Rockhampton Airport on a previous occasion  (File photo)

Of interest, fellow QGAir AW139 VH-ESH has been operating out of Cairns Airport as "Rescue 510" in recent times and I presume that it will ferry South to Archerfield in the coming days 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. 

Meanwhile, in other emergency rescue helicopter news, this time around the Fraser Coast region, Bundaberg Airport-based RACQ LifeFlight Rescue Bell 412 VH-XCN - which operates as "Rescue 522" - was noted flying out of Bundy on Thursday 28 September for Archerfield.  I presume that it has flown into Archerfield for planned maintenance.

In its place, fellow RACQ LifeFlight Rescue Bell 412 VH-XCO appears to have flown into Bundaberg Airport from Archerfield on Friday 29 September.

Photo taken by Kayanne Hardsman  ©