New Torres Strait Air Britten-Norman BN-2B-20 Islander VH-BNG Passes Through Emerald Airport

An interesting visitor to be noted passing through Emerald Airport on Tuesday 3 December was recently registered Colville Aviation Services (Torres Strait Air) Britten-Norman BN-2B-20 Islander VH-BNG.

The Islander looked to arrive into Emerald Airport from Watts Bridge where it is presumed to have been undergoing planned maintenance.  It then continued to Mareeba.

VH-BNG appears to be one of two fairly recently acquired aircraft for the Far North Queensland based Torres Strait Air which operates a fleet of nine aircraft including other BN-2 Islanders out of their Horn Island base to small neighbouring Island in the Torres Strait and beyond.  Their aircraft are registered to Colville Aviation Services.

Of interest, VH-BNG was placed on the Australian Aircraft registered in January this year having previous operated for a number of years in Japan as JA5325.

Raymond Lavington / https://www.flickr.com/

It looked to operate with Ryukyu Air Commuter before being photographed (above) in the titles and livery of First Flying (FFC).

Finally, as mentioned, VH-BNG was one of two BN-2B Islanders to be recently registered to Colville Aviation Services with the other being VH-BNC which was also registered in January and also previously operated in Japan but as JA5324.

Nice!