Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Airbus A330-203 / KC-30A (MRTT) A39-004 "Dragon 14" Arrives into Rockhampton Airport - Plus More!

On Tuesday 7 June, Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Airbus A330-200 / KC-30A Multi Role Tanker Transport (MRTT) A39-004 was spotted as it sat quietly on Gate 6 on Southern end of the Rockhampton Airport parking apron after it had earlier arrived from RAAF Base Amberley as "Dragon 14".

Before coming to Rocky though, A39-004 "Dragon 14" initially held near Roma for fellow RAAF KC-30A A39-006 "Dragon 70" before it then flew up an inland route to North-West Queensland completing an air-to-air refuelling sortie.

A39-006 "Dragon 70" continued to Darwin, while A39-004 "Dragon 14" then flew to Cairns where is completed a missed approach before then landing at Rockhampton Airport.

UPDATE!  On Wednesday 8 June, A39-004 "Dragon 14" departed Rockhampton Airport for Brisbane and then Amberley.  Reports suggest the visit to Rockhampton Airport was part of the air-to-air refuelling sortie with the overnight stay a part of 'out-of-comfort-zone training'.

Yet another RAAF KC-30A A39-001 as "Dragon 19" also took off from Amberley just ahead of the other two and flew up to via an inland route to land at Cairns.  It later returned to Amberley via a missed approach at Townsville.

Meanwhile, also on Tuesday 7 June, Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Boeing B737-7ES / E-7A Wedgetail Airborne Early Warning & Control (AEW&C) aircraft A30-003 as "Wedgetail 03" was noted completing airwork including missed approaches at Bundaberg and Hervey Bay (Fraser Coast) Airports.  It looked to fly up from and then return to RAAF Base Williamtown.

Nice!

Photos taken by 'IAD'  ©