Hinterland Aviation Cessna 208 Caravan (Blackhawk Conversion) VH-NTQ Calls into CQ Airports - Plus More!

On Wednesday 2 February, an interesting first-time visitor to the region was Hinterland Aviation Cessna 208 Caravan VH-NTQ.  It flew down from Townsville to Bowen Aerodrome (pictured) before it then flew to the Labona Station Airstrip within Adani Australia's (Bravus Mining & Resources) Carmichael Coal Mine site and back.  VH-NTQ then returned to Townsville.

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VH-NTQ was noted flying as HND648.

Of interest, VH-NTQ is unique to the Hinterland Aviation fleet in that it has the Blackhawk Aerospace short body Cessna Caravan conversion featuring a shorter fuselage and a bigger 850shp PT6A-42 engine compared to the other Grand Caravans in their fleet.  VH-NTQ usually flys their daily services to and from Palm Island out of their Townsville base.

Meanwhile, also on Wednesday 2 February, Silver Linings Aviation Cessna 680 Citation Sovereign bizjet VH-ZEK made yet another visit to Hamilton Island Airport, again arriving from and then departing back to Bankstown.

And Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) (Cobham SAR Services Pty Ltd) Bombardier CL-600-2B16 Challenger 604 bizjet VH-XNE "Rescue 330" was noted in the region, flying down from Cairns and providing support as the Capricorn Helicopter Rescue Service (CHRS) (Babcock Mission Critical Services Australasia) Agusta S.P.A. AW139 Helicopter VH-YXR "Rescue 300" completed a rescue from a ship out to sea off Rockhampton.

Finally, also on Wednesday 2 February, the visiting Skytrans Airlines Dash-8-100 VH-QQI departed Rockhampton Airport for Mackay Airport as SKP785 before it then completed three return flights from Mackay Airport to the Labona Station Airstrip within Adani Australia's (Bravus Mining & Resources) Carmichael Coal Mine site and back as SKP793/4/1/2/5/6. 

At the time of writing, VH-QQI is due fly from Mackay Airport to Brisbane as SKP786 early on Thursday 3 February.

And fellow Skytrans Dash-8-100 VH-QQG arrived into Rockhampton Airport from Cairns and Proserpine (Whitsunday Coast) Airports as SKP87 before it then flew a FIFO charter flight to Labona and back to Rocky as SKP777/8.  It then returned North on the Regular Passenger Transport (RPT) flight from Rockhampton Airport to Proserpine and Cairns Airports but as SKP88.