It appeared that on Thursday 20 September, flying operations for the Singapore Armed Forces Exercise Wallaby 2018 kicked off with some spectacular multiple-ship formation flights by the visiting Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) helicopters captured by local plane spotters Russell P and Daniel B.
Initially, a pair of the four RSAF Boeing AH-64D Apache helicopters departed Rockhampton Airport for the Shoalwater Bay Training Area (SWBTA) as "Avon". Later, all four RSAF Boeing CH-47D Chinook helicopters departed Rocky for Shoalwater Bay as "Cyclops".
"Avon" then returned but went out once again, this time as a three-ship formation of Apaches. Both "Avon" and "Cyclops" were photographed returning to Rockhampton Airport.
Finally, a pair of RSAF Aerospatiale / Eurocopter AS332M Super Puma helicopters - 272 and 293 - were photographed departing Rockhampton Airport as "Diamond".
Aside from the RSAF helicopter action starting up, also on Thursday 20 September, the visiting RSAF Lockheed C-130H Hercules '735' departed Rockhampton Airport again as "SAF9853" destined for Darwin. It had arrived from Darwin the previous day - see Blog post below.
It is expected that flying operations will continue on Friday 21 September - we hope to bring you many more photos of the spectacular action at Rockhampton Airport!
Finally, over this coming weekend, it is expected that the heavy jet passenger charter flights in support of Exercise Wallaby 2018 will kick off in daylight during the morning on Saturday 22 September. While not 100% confirmed, early indications suggest that a Royal Brunei Airlines Boeing B787-8 Dreamliner, and possibly a Singapore Airlines Airbus A330-300, will visit Rockhampton Airport.
Be sure to stay tuned to the CQ Plane Spotting Blog for all the latest news and updates via our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/cqplanespotting/
Sincere thanks to local plane spotters Russell P and Daniel B for taking the time to capture and send through these great photos!
Photos taken by Russell Prothero and Daniel Bishop ©
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