Latest Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Airbus A330-200 / KC-30A Multi Role Tanker Transport (MRTT) A39-007 First Visit to CQ with Missed Approach at Rockhampton Airport

A nice surprise visitor to Central Queensland, but sadly after dark on Wednesday 13 November, with the latest to be delivered Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Airbus A330-200 / KC-30A Multi Role Tanker Transport (MRTT) A39-007 noted completing a missed approach at Rockhampton Airport.  It was flying as "Dragon 34".

A39-007 at Brisbane Airport recently  (File photo)

A39-007 flew up from and then later returned to RAAF Base Amberley.

A39-007 was delivered to the RAAF's 33 Squadron at Amberley in May 2019 and wore the Spanish delivery registration marking of 'MRTT040'.  It also previously wore the registration marking 'EC334' as well as the faux marking of 'NCC-1701' which was possibly influenced by the 'USS Enterprise' from the popular 'Star Trek' movies.

This A330-200MRTT is also an older airframe (MSN 898) and was originally manufactured in 2007 and delivered to Qantas Airways in early 2008 as VH-EBI.  It previously wore the name 'Yarra Valley'.

VH-EBI operated with Qantas on domestic and international flights until September 2015 when it was withdrawn from service and flown to Singapore (Changi) Airport for end of lease maintenance and storage.  VH-EBI was then re-registered as 'EC-334' was then flown to Getafe in Spain for conversion to A330-MRTT/KC-30A standard by Airbus Defence and Space.

A39-007 is also being utilised as a VIP transport jet for current Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison (ScoMo) who has named the aircraft 'Shark 1' after his beloved National Rugby League (NRL) team The Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks.

We hope to be able to soon bring daylight images of A39-007 in Central Queensland!

Photo taken by Lloyd Fox  ©