Fugro LADS / Royal Australia Navy (RAN) Hydrography Dash-8-200 VH-LCL Arrives into Bundaberg Airport

Noted arriving into Bundaberg Airport from Cairns on Monday 29 April to presumably take up operations in the area is the Fugro LADS Corporation / Surveillance Australia / Royal Australian Navy (RAN) LADS Hydrography Institute Dash-8-200 VH-LCL.  It was noted completed airwork off the coast of Gladstone and around Heron Island before heading to Bundy.

The heavily modified Dash-8-200 is usually based at Cairns Airport with Cobham Aviation.  At the time of writing, it is planned to complete a seven-hour flight out of and back to Bundaberg Airport on Tuesday 30 April with it planning to return to Bundaberg Airport in the early evening.

VH-LCL is operated by Surveillance Australia for Fugro LADS Corporation on a multi-year lease to the Royal Australia Navy LADS Hydrography Institute. The 'LADS' (Laser Airborne Depth Sounding) system is an aircraft based hydrographic surveying system that measures the difference between the sea surface and the sea floor as calculated from the aircraft's altitude to generate hydrographic data. After operating overseas since it was delivered in late 1997, VH-LCL commenced operations with the RAN LADS Hydrography Institute in late 2009.

Sincere thanks to Samuel F for taking the time to capture and send through these great photos!

All photos taken by Samuel Felgate  ©