Queensland Government (QGAir) Rescue Agusta AW139 Helicopter VH-ESH Flys North via Rockhampton Airport

On Monday 8 October, Queensland Government (QGAir) Rescue (State of Queensland) Agusta AW139 helicopter VH-ESH was noted passing through Rockhampton Airport which on a ferry flight North to Cairns from Archerfield.

VH-ESH at Rockhampton Airport earlier this year  (File photo)

After taking on fuel, VH-ESH continued to Townsville and then Cairns.

Of interest, VH-ESH has been operating around Brisbane and the South-East corner of Queensland in recent days as "Rescue 500".

I presume it has ferried into Cairns to replace the current QGAir Rescue AW139 chopper VH-ESZ which is currently operating as "Rescue 510".  VH-ESZ should ferry South in the coming days as a part of their maintenance 'rotational system'.

UPDATE!  As posted above, on Tuesday 9 October, VH-ESZ indeed ferried South from Cairns via Townsville, Mackay and Bundaberg Airports to Archerfield.

This is reportedly designed to ensure the even distribution of flying hours on each of the QGAir Rescue helicopters, thus avoiding the need to have multiple helicopters offline for simultaneous scheduled maintenance.

Photo taken by Scott Harris  ©