Atlas Air Boeing B747-400 N465MC Touches Down at Rockhampton Airport Thursday

Making a spectacular arrival into Rockhampton Airport early on Thursday 2 July was Atlas Air Boeing B747-446 N465MC.

It touched down directly from Hickam Field (formerly Hickam Air Force Base) in Hawaii, flying as GTI8005 "Giant 8005".

And it certainly drew a crowd with a steady stream of locals passing through Rockhampton Airport for most of the day coming to have a look at the Atlas jumbo jet!

The jumbo brought hundreds of United States Army (US Army) troops and cargo in preparation for Exercise Hamel and joint Exercise Talisman Sabre 2015 which are both kicking off next week.

At the time of writing, it was being speculated that N465MC would depart in the wee small hours of Friday 3 July - when we will all no doubt be curled up in our beds!

What a great morning!

Three Australian Army Blackhawk Helicopters and a RAAF BAe Hawk 127 Jet Arrive at Rockhampton Airport Wednesday

Three Australian Army Sikorsky S-70A-9 Blackhawk helicopters arrived into Rockhampton Airport from the South late on Tuesday 30 June.

I managed to capture the three Blackhawks - identified as A25-214, A25-108 and A25-212 - as they were sitting peacefully parked beside Runway 04/22 at Rocky on Wednesday 1 July.

A little later on Wednesday 1 July, a single Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) British Aerospace (BAe) Hawk 127 jet - serial A27-04 - arrived from the South as "Panther 20".

The smart little Hawk will be joined at Rockhampton Airport by as many as five more of its counterparts some time next week as joint military Exercise Talisman Sabre 2015 kicks off in the nearby Shoalwater Bay Training Area (SWBTA).

Another Australian Army NH Industries MRH-90 Multi-Role Helicopter passed through Rockhampton Airport on Wednesday 1 July with A40-011 arriving from the south and later departing to Townsville.

It was heard to be using the radio callsign of "Destria 11".

Finally, as the sun starting to set, both RAAF Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) Heron Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) A45-253 and A45-262 were spotted outside their hangar performing engine runs and other tests in preparation for sorties over Shoalwater Bay either this week or next.

It's always nice to be back at Rocky and catching some of the action!

CQ Plane Spotting Historic Spot - Retired Qantas B747-400 VH-OJI at Rockhampton Airport in 2013

The retirement of Qantas Airways Boeing B747-400 aircraft from their fleet continued recently with another one of Central Queensland's favourite jumbos heading to the Mojave Desert in the United States of America.

B747-400 VH-OJI "City of Longreach" departed Sydney for Honolulu and Mojave on Thursday 25 June after a flying career with Qantas of over 20 years.

VH-OJI was a very welcome to CQ calling into Rockhampton Airport on a couple of occasions in November 2013 in support of the Singapore Defence Force's Exercise Wallaby.  It carried personnel in and out of Rocky from Singapore's Changi Airport.

VH-OJI was one of four Qantas B747-400s that have called into Rocky over the life of the CQ Plane Spotting Blog - VH-OJC, VH-OJD and VH-OEB are the others.  VH-OEB is currently still in the Qantas fleet while VH-OJD and VH-OJC were retired to Victorville (USA) in March 2013 and March 2014 respectively.

Thanks to Sydney-based plane spotter Bernie P for allowing us to use his great photos as VH-OJI departed Austalia!

Photos taken by Bernie Proctor and 'IAD'  ©

A Few Plane Spotting Photos from Hervey Bay and Bundaberg Airports This Week

Brisbane-based plane spotter and fellow Blogger Brendan B has again shared with us some of his images he captured as he recently ventured through Central Queensland for work.  On this particular trip, Brendan visited Hervey Bay (Fraser Coast) and Bundaberg Airports.

Starting his day at Hervey Bay, Brendan captured a nice selection of light General Aviation (GA) aircraft as well as the morning QantasLink Dash-8 departure to Brisbane.  Maryborough-based Beech A35 Bonanza and Victoria-based Evektor Sportstar Max VH-EVX were notable visitors, along with a pair of Seair Pacific / Istlecote operated aircraft the form of Pilatus Britten-Norman BN2A-21 Islander VH-URJ and Beech B200 King Air VH-MWQ.

Another Beech F33A Bonanza VH-ZBZ arrived from Caloundra and parked for most of the day.  It wear the name "Starship Sophie".

Locally-based Austflight Ultralight A-503 19-1420 was also spotted by Brendan and looked to be being prepared for a local flight.

Finally, QantasLink Dash-8-Q300 was spotted taxiing out for departure as QLK2375 to Brisbane.

Brendan then ventured to Bundaberg where he also captured a nice selection of GA aircraft, as well as Virgin Australia Regional Airlines (VARA) ATR 72-500 VH-FVX preparing for departure to Brisbane as VOZ1702.

As somewhat expected, the GA aircraft captured by Brendan featured three of the (possibly) locally-built Jabiru ultralight aircraft with Jabiru 55/3J 55-3026 preparing for departure, and Jabiru J200 19-3778 and Jabiru J230-D 24-7623 captured resting at various parts of Bundaberg Airport.

Another interesting ultralight captured by Brendan was Amateur-built Nova 19-4366.

Some slightly bigger GA aircraft included Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) Hawker Beechcraft B200 King Air VH-FDT ("FlyDoc 436") which seems to be calling Bundy 'home' at moment, while Seair Pacific / Istlecote Cessna 208 Caravan VH-LMD was captured preparing for departure.

Finally, QantasLink Dash-8-Q300 VH-SBI was captured by Brendan departing Bundaberg for Brisbane as QLK2329.  It was in fact VH-SBI's second visit to Bundy for the day!

A massive thanks to Brendan yet again for his continued support of the CQ Plane Spotting Blog and sending through these awesome photos from Hervey Bay and Bundaberg.

Brendan has his own plane spotting and travel Blog - named BMB Photography - you can check out more of his photos and much more at:  http://madaboutplanes.blogspot.com.au/

All photos taken by Brendan Berry  ©