Central Queensland Plane Spotting

Saturday, June 27, 2015

A Couple More Photos of RNZAF B757 NZ7571 at Rockhampton Airport as RAAF C-17 A41-209 Sneaks in Friday Night

Local plane spotter Kayanne H was also on hand at Rockhampton Airport on Friday 26 June as Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) Boeing B757-2K2 NZ7571 called in direct from RNZAF Base Ohakea as "Kiwi 290".

After dropping off some passengers and freight - in preparation for joint Military Exercise Talisman Sabre 2015 - it departed to Townsville. Of interest, NZ7571 noted returning to New Zealand on Saturday 27 June.

Meanwhile, spotted resting on the Southern end of the Rockhampton Airport apron after making a surprise arrival late on Friday 26 June was Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Boeing C-17A Globemaster III A41-209.

It was believed that the Globemaster arrived from Darwin as "Stallion 46" and spent the night parked at Rocky.

A41-209 has since departed back to Darwin on Saturday 27 June again as "Stallion 46" and early indications suggest that it may return to Rocky later on Saturday.

Sincere thanks to Kayanne for capturing and sending through these great photos!

All photos taken by Kayanne Hardsman ©

Virgin Australia Boeing B737-800 VH-YIY First Visit to CQ at Mackay Airport Friday

The complete set of all Virgin Australia Boeing B737-800 aircraft has now visited Central Queensland Airports, with the elusive VH-YIY finally calling into Mackay Airport on Friday 26 June.

Kyle Mayne / http://flightaware.com/

Since it entered service with Virgin in March, VH-YIY has been mostly used on International flights, operating only the occasional domestic sector. On Friday, the VOZ613/614 service from and back to Brisbane.

Meanwhile, also on Friday 26 June, locally-based Embraer EMB-550 Legacy 500 bizjet N142GZ operated a return flight from Mackay Airport to Brisbane.

And an interesting visitor into Mackay Airport in the wee small hours of Friday was West Wing Aviation Pilatus Britten-Norman BN2A-21 Islander VH-WQA which called in from Cairns and departed to Archerfield.

File photo taken by Dave ©

I presume this journey South is for maintenance.

Some More Great Photos as a Pair of Virgin Australia B737-800 Jets Call into Gladstone Airport This Week

Local plane spotters Jamie and Tash were on hand twice last week as Virgin Australia operated a pair of the larger Boeing B737-800 jet aircraft into Gladstone Airport on scheduled services from and back to Brisbane.

As mentioned below, B737-800 VH-YFJ called in on Wednesday 24 June while operating the morning VOZ1711/1714 service.

And then on Thursday 25 June B737-800 VH-VUJ called in during the storms that were passing through CQ operating VOZ1717/1720.

Some great photos and our sincere thanks to Jamie and Tash for taking the time to capture and send through their awesome photos!

Photos taken by Jamie and Tash ©

Meanwhile - Spotted at Hervey Bay / Fraser Coast Airport This Week

The Fraser Coast region of (Central) Queensland is becoming quite a popular and thus busy place for aviation news and movements - and last week was no exception with quite a number of interesting light General Aviation (GA) aircraft calling into Bundaberg Airport (see Blog post below) and also the Hervey Bay / Fraser Coast Airport.

TW Aviation (of Tamworth) Cessna 414A VH-ZDF was noted calling into Hervey Bay from Bathurst on Thursday 25 June. After a couple of hours, it departed to the Sunshine Coast and Ballina/Byron Gateway, before returning to Bathurst.

File photo taken by Col ©

Also on Thursday, Cessna 206 VH-ITV visited from Redcliffe.

On Friday 26 June, Maroochy Air Cessna 182 VH-TOE operated from Hervey Bay to Archerfield, Tara and back to Hervey Bay. Seair (Istlecote) Cessna 208 Carvan VH-LMD was noted arriving early from the Gold Coast. It then looked to operate a flight to Lady Elliot Island before returning to the Gold Coast later in the day.

Also visiting from the Gold Coast on Friday 26 June was Australian Wings (Flying) Academy Diamond Aircraft Industries DA40-D VH-YHM. These little Diamonds make frequent visits to Hervey Bay as a part of their pilot training flights.

Finally, and also on pilot training flights, Becker Helicopter Services Bell 206s VH-NXW and VH-WCF were noted calling into Hervey Bay Airport on Tuesday 23 June, calling in from the Sunshine Coast.

A Few Other Light GA Aircraft and Helicopter Spottings and Movements at Bundaberg Airport This Week

Aside from the interesting Surveillance Australia (Customs) Dash-8 and RNZAF NH90 movements (see Blog posts below), local plane spotter Micah S also captured some photos of a couple of other interesting visitors at Bundaberg Airport including the locally-based Careflight Agusta A109E Power VH-ZCF departing as "Rescue 522" on a med-evac flight late last week.

On Wednesday 24 June, Micah captured QantasLink Dash-8-Q300 VH-TQE as it visited on a scheduled service from and back to Brisbane as QLK2322/2329.

Also captured on Wednesday by Micah was Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) Hawker Beechcraft B200 King Air VH-FDA arriving back at Bundy from Brisbane as "FlyDoc401".

Also noted calling into Bundaberg on Wednesday 24 June was Gold Coast-based Beech 76 Duchess VH-AZX which seems to make regular (weekly) visits to the Rum City. It returned to the Gold Coast on Friday 26 June.

While on Thursday 25 June, Micah captured QantasLink Dash-8-Q400 VH-QQX as it prepared for departure to Brisbane as QLK2327.

And RFDS Hawker Beechcraft B200 VH-FDM was also preparing for departure to Brisbane but as "FlyDoc 478".

On Friday 26 June, two familiar aircraft called into Bundaberg Airport with the locally-based CromAir Cessna 414A VH-CBT operating a return flight to Gladstone, while the Queensland Police Service (Airwing) Raytheon B1900D VH-PSK called in from Townsville and departed to Brisbane while on a busy day of flying.

Sincere thanks again to Micah for his help in preparing these Blog posts this week - we are very fortunate to have him as one of our many contributors that make this Blog the great success that it is! Thanks mate!

All photos taken by Micah S ©

Friday, June 26, 2015

A Couple of Nice Corporate Bizjets and Turbo-props at Hamilton Island Airport as Qantas Flights from Melbourne Start Tomorrow!

Over the last couple of days, a couple of nice (but familiar) corporate bizjet and turbo-prop aircraft have been noted calling into Hamilton Island Airport.

Late on Wednesday 24 June, Tower Holdings (Execujet Australia) Bombardier CL-600-2B16 Challenger 604 bizjet VH-EVJ called in from Sydney. It departed to Darwin on Friday 26 June.

Also on Friday 26 June, Brenzil Dassault Falcon 7X bizjet VH-CRW also called into Hamo but from Brisbane. It looks to be still parked.

Meanwhile, Alizzi Aviation Beech B200 King Air VH-ZOS arrived from Ballarat and Hawker Beechcraft G58 Baron VH-EZD arrived from Monto and Rockhampton also on Friday. They too remain parked at Hamo.

Finally, the new Qantas Airways flights from Melbourne (Tullamarine) to Hamilton Island Airport commence on Saturday 27 June with the inbound QFA870 flight expected to touch down just after midday. The outbound QFA871 departs around 40 minutes later.

http://www.qantas.com.au/

The new three-times-a-week services - to be operated by Boeing B737-800 aircraft - replace the existing Jetstar Airways Airbus A320 flights which have been (essentially) 'shifted' to the Proserpine / Whitsunday Coast Airport - see Blog Post HERE of the inaugural flight on Thursday 25 June.

For the aircraft registration hunters out there, Jetstar A320 VH-VQJ had the honours of operating the final JST860/863 return flight to Hamo from Melbourne (Tullamarine) Airport on Friday 26 June.

Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) Boeing B757-200 NZ7571 at Rockhampton Airport Friday for Talisman Sabre 2015

Making a spectacular arrival into Rockhampton Airport on Friday 26 June was Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) Boeing B757-2K2 NZ7571.

It was captured by local plane spotter 'IAD' as it touched down as "Kiwi 290" directly from RNZAF Base Ohakea - an operational base of the Royal New Zealand Air Force near Palmerston North.