Queensland Government (QGAir) Rescue Agusta AW139 Helicopter VH-EZJ Flys South via Rockhampton Airport

As predicted, on Monday 5 August, Queensland Government (QGAir) Rescue (State of Queensland) Agusta AW139 helicopter VH-EZJ ferried South from Cairns to Archerfield, flying via Townsville and Rockhampton Airports.

File photo

Surprisingly, it looks to be spending the night at Rockhampton Airport with its planned departure to Archerfield cancelled.

UPDATE!  On Tuesday 6 August, VH-EZJ departed Rockhampton Airport for Archerfield.

VH-EZJ is believed to have flown to Archerfield for planned maintenance after operating out of Cairns Airport for a period of time as "Rescue 510".  This is part of the 'rotational system' the service utilises to ensure the even distribution of flying hours on each of the QGAir Rescue helicopters.  This system avoids the need to have multiple helicopters offline for simultaneous scheduled maintenance.

As posted below, fellow QGAir AW139 chopper VH-ESH flew North to Cairns from Archerfield via Gladstone, Mackay and Townsville Airports over the last couple of days.