Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) Hawker Beechcraft B200 King Air VH-FDI "FlyDoc 467" Spotted in New Colours

Spotted at the end of last month departing Rockhampton Airport was Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) Hawker Beechcraft B200 King Air VH-FDI "FlyDoc 467" which has now been re-painted into the new RFDS blue and red livery.

It appears that VH-FDI flew from Brisbane to Redcliffe at the end of March where it was re-painted by the locally-based Flinders Aviation.  It was rolled out and flew back to Brisbane at the start of May and on Friday 5 May, it flew into Bundaberg Airport in its new livery, marking its first visit to Central Queensland.

The RFDS has re-painted five of their older King Air turboprops into their new livery - VH-FDI, VH-FDS, VH-FDG, VH-FDZ and VH-FDM.  Their four recently delivered King Airs - VH-VJW, VH-VJX, VH-VJY and VH-VJZ also wearing the new livery.

Photo taken by John Lee  ©

RAAF Canadair Challenger 604 Bizjet A37-003 Completes Airwork at Hervey Bay (Fraser Coast) Airport - Plus RAAF King Airs Now on Civil Register (perhaps retired?)

On Friday 13 July, Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Canadair CL-600-2B16 Challenger 604 bizjet A37-003 was noted completing airwork at Hervey Bay (Fraser Coast) Airport while on a flight North from Port Macquarie (in New South Wales) to Townsville.

A37-003 at Rockhampton Airport recently  (File photo)

A37-003 was noted flying as "Envoy 22".

Meanwhile, the fantastic AustAirData - Historical Civil Aircraft Registers of The Pacific - website (http://www.austairdata.com.au/) lists three (perhaps now) former RAAF Beech B350 Super King Air aircraft has being (re-)registered on the Australian civil register to Hawker Pacific in New South Wales.

A32-351 at Rockhampton Airport last year  (File photo)

During June, A32-343 (msn FL-343) was registered VH-YZG, A32-349 (msn FL-349) was registered VH-YZJ and A32-351 (msn FL-351) was registered VH-YZL.

All three Super King Airs have been in service with the RAAF since 2003.

Photos taken by 'IAD' and Kayanne Hardsman  ©

Hawker Pacific Gippsaero GA8 Airvan VH-ACZ Calls into Longreach Airport While Heading Out of the Country

A nice arrival into Longreach Airport on Tuesday 29 November was Hawker Pacific Gippsaero GA8 Airvan VH-ACZ.  It arrived from Bankstown and Charleville.

VH-ACZ at Bankstown in May this year  (Guido Warnecke / http://flightaware.com/)

After staying for the night, VH-ACZ continued to Mount Isa, Borroloola and Darwin. On Saturday 3 December, VH-ACZ departed Darwin for Truscott and Kupang (Malaysia) on delivery to (reportedly) the Philippines.

Of interest, the Airvan visited Gladstone Airport this time last year and was spotted wearing the titles of its registered owner and operator, Hawker Pacific.

VH-ACZ at Gladstone in December 2015  (File photo taken by the Col  ©)

It appeared that VH-ACZ completed a demonstration tour around South-East Asia and parts of Australia.

Hawker Pacific Gippsaero GA8 Airvan VH-ACZ Calls into Gladstone Airport

A surprise arrival into Gladstone Airport late on Wednesday 2 December was Gippsaero GA8 Airvan VH-ACZ.  It arrived from Cairns and Mareeba.

The Airvan wears Hawker Pacific titles and appears to have been on a demonstration tour around South-East Asia.  It was noted arriving into Darwin from Kupang (Malaysia) in late November and has been slowly making its way from the Northern Territory and Far North Queensland down to Gladstone.

On Thursday 3 December, VH-ACZ departed Gladstone early for Coffs Harbour and Bankstown.

All photos taken by the Col  ©

A Nice Pair of Diamonds at Rockhampton Airport

A nice pair of Diamond aircraft have been noted a couple of Central Queensland airports this week, seemingly on a demonstration tour to local operators through Queensland.  Don W managed to catch the pair of Diamonds - which are registered to Hawker Pacific - at Rockhampton Airport early on Wednesday 2 May, before they departed for Archerfield Airport in Brisbane.

VH-NGI is a Diamond DA-42-NG

VH-XLF is a Diamond DA-40

Also popping into Rockhampton later on Wednesday 2 May was Cessna 500 Citation I VH-SOU of Australian Air Services in New South Wales.  The bizjet was only on the ground briefly.