A Couple of Other Bizjets Around CQ Airports on Thursday and Friday

Also over the latter part of this week, a couple of bizjets have been noted calling into Central Queensland Airports.

We mentioned below that Business Aviation Solutions Cessna 650 Citation VII VH-DHN called into Rockhampton Airport on Thursday 27 November.  It arrived from Townsville and departed a short while later to the Gold Coast.

Also on Thursday 27 November, Gulf Coast Aviation Cessna 510 Citation Mustang VH-KXM again ventured North from Bankstown to Vanrook Station near Normanton in Far North Queensland.  It was noted calling into Emerald for fuel on its journey North.

File photo taken by 'top_end_dude' ©

Meanwhile, on Friday 28 November, VH-KXM departed Vanrook Station for Cairns before it continued on to Charters Towers.  From Charters Towers, VH-KXM was later noted flying to Proserpine / Whitsunday Coast Airport where it appears to be staying overnight.

Also in the Whitsundays, on Thursday 27 November, Balmoral Air (operated for Hamilton Island's owner, and well-known vineyard owner, Bob Oatley) Dassault Falcon 2000LX bizjet VH-WIO touched down at Hamilton Island Airport from Bankstown once again.  The familiar visitor stayed the night and departed back to Bankstown on Friday 28 November.

Finally, locally-based Raytheon 390 Premier 1 bizjet N7088S returned to its Mackay-base from Brisbane on Friday 28 November, having flown to the capital earlier in the week.

More Alliance Jets into Emerald and Rockhampton Airports for QantasLink

Over the latter part of this week, Alliance Airlines Fokker jets continued to call into Central Queensland Airports operating flights on behalf of QantasLink.

VH-FKJ at Rockhampton Airport  (File photo taken by 'IAD'  ©)

On Thursday 27 November, Fokker F-70 VH-JFB again called into Emerald Airport operating two flight for QantasLink.

On Friday 28 November, Fokker F-100 VH-FKJ operated flights into Rockhampton Airport and Emerald Airport for QantasLink.

QantasLink Starts Brisbane to Hamilton Island Airport Services on Friday with Dash-8-Q400 Next Gen VH-LQM

Early last month, we reported that Qantas Airways, via their regional subsidiary QantasLink, would start direct flights between Brisbane and Hamilton Island.  Well this new service started as planned on Friday 28 November, with QantasLink Dash-8-Q400 Next Gen VH-LQM operating the first QLK2824/2825 return service from Brisbane to Hamilton Island and back.

File photo taken by 'AC'  ©

These 74-seat QantasLink Dash-8-Q400 aircraft will be operating four return services per week – on Fridays, Saturdays, Sunday and Mondays.

QantasLink has long serviced Hamilton Island with daily return flights from Cairns in Far North Queensland.  It believes the launch of these new services gives customers more travel options on its expanding network and is great news for Whitsunday tourism.

Hamilton Island is delighted that QantasLink is starting a direct service from Brisbane.  Having celebrated the return of Qantas to the Island in July, the Island is delighted to welcome the additional QantasLink Brisbane to Hamilton Island service to compliment the current Qantas (mainline) operated Sydney to Hamilton Island route.

The Qantas Group (including Jetstar) offers 40 return services a week to Hamilton Island from Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne and Cairns.

We wish QantasLink all the best for these new services!

Serious Storms in Brisbane Thursday Evening Damage Aircraft and Delay Flights

Widely reported that massive storms hit Brisbane late on Thursday 27 November causing wide-spread damage to property as well as several injuries to local residents.  But as time goes on, it has emerged that there was also damage to several aircraft and buildings at Brisbane's General Aviation (GA) Airport at Archerfield.

Sadly, there was one locally-based aircraft that was damaged at Archerfield in the form of Bundaberg-based CromAir Cessna 414A VH-CBT which arrived at Archerfield from Bundy earlier on Thursday.  It was damaged as a result of damage to a hangar door.

VH-CBT at Mackay Airport in happier times  (File photo taken by 'AC'  ©)

However, VH-CBT wasn't the only aircraft damaged.  Local plane spotter BvD noted the following aircraft either blown over or damaged at Archerfield:

Blown over aircraft:
24-7313 Jabiru
24-7829 Jabiru J170
24-8329 Cessna C162
24-8511 Cessna C162
VH-IPI Champion
VH-IVZ Cessna 152
VH-MZW Cessna 172N
VH-WSN Robinson R44

Damaged aircraft:
VH-CBT Cessna 414 damaged by hangar doors
VH-DYH Beech G36 tail damaged by PA31 VH-FMU
VH-MBI Cessna 172B left wing damaged
VH-MPJ Maule M7 left wing damaged by wall
VH-SRO Beech 76 left wing damaged by VH-IPI
ZK-TOT Cessna 182 right wing damaged

The CareFlight hangar at Archerfield had part of wall blown out causing minor damage to the resident Rescue Helicopter.

UPDATE!  On Friday 28 November, I was made aware of the following additional damage to aircraft and facilities at Archerfield Airport...

VH-IVZ Cessna 152
At Exec Helicopters the side of hanger was gone with VH-EHY EC-130B plus one other inside.
At Flying Fighters, the hanger doors were down in front of hanger with VH-DRP Cessna 310R, VH-FLX PA-38-112. VH-CFR PA-38-112 parked in front with suspected damage.

Also there were several other aircraft that had hail damage that were parked around the field.

Meanwhile, flights into Brisbane Airport late on Thursday 27 November were either delayed or diverted.  Of interest, the VOZ1720 flight from Gladstone to Brisbane - operated by Embraer E-190 VH-ZPR - took the 'long way' to get to Brisbane, turning an hour-long flight into an hour-and-three-quarter flight - as shown below.  And the evening QantasLink QLK2533 Dash-8-Q400 flight from Longreach to Brisbane diverted to Hervey Bay / Fraser Coast Airport.

http://flightaware.com/

Certainly some scary sights and sounds from the storms!

Additional photos from CK (@C_K_7) on Twitter - http://twitter.com/C_K_7

Virgin Australia Embraer E-190 Jet VH-ZPR Calls into Gladstone Airport

Yet another Virgin Australia Embraer E-190 jet has called into Gladstone Airport with, on Thursday 27 November, VH-ZPR operating the late afternoon VOZ1717/1720 scheduled service from and back to Brisbane.

Meanwhile, on the lighter side of movements at Gladstone Airport over the last couple of days, BAS Aviation Raytheon B300 Super King Air VH-KJD touched down on Wednesday 26 November from Archerfield.  It then operated a returned flight to Roma, before returning to Archerfield later in the day.

Also spotted at Gladstone Airport this week was Bayswater Road / Australian Aerial Mapping (AAM) Cessna 402B VH-SVQ, along with New South Wales-based Piper PA-28-140 VH-UQM.

Business Aviation Solutions Cessna 650 Citation VII Bizjet VH-DHN at Rockhampton Airport

Business Aviation Solutions Cessna 650 Citation VII bizjet VH-DHN called into Rockhampton Airport on Thursday 27 November.  It arrived from Townsville and departed a short while later to the Gold Coast.

File photo

Of interest, VH-DHN originally started its journey at Mount Hagen in Papua New Guinea (PNG), and called into Townsville before arriving at Rocky.

One other interesting movement into Rockhampton on Thursday 27 November was Pekal Aviation of Boggabilla (NSW) Partenavia P.68B VH-JQM.  It arrived from its Goondiwindi base.

QantasLink Network and Schedule Changes Affect Central Queensland Airports

From:  http://www.qantas.com.au/
Date:  Tuesday 25 November

File photo by Anthony Schulz  ©

QantasLink has announced changes to our network and schedule to increase efficiency and better match capacity with demand.

We've done a complete rebuild of our turboprop network and schedule from the bottom up to ensure we have the right aircraft on the right route – matching capacity with customer demand.

We're increasing the utilisation of our aircraft, similar to the changes made in Qantas International and Domestic.

More than 10 regional centres across our network will benefit from the changes we are implementing via upgauges to our Q400 aircraft, including Wagga Wagga, Dubbo, Coffs Harbour, Emerald, Weipa, Horn Island, Rockhampton, Mt Isa, Townsville, Moranbah, and Mackay coastal services.

Summary of network and schedule changes:
- Coastal route from Brisbane – Gladstone – Rockhampton – Mackay – Townsville – Cairns will experience most capacity reductions including:
- Cessation of Gladstone – Rockhampton services
- Rockhampton to Mackay services reduced from a double daily service to single daily
- Mackay to Townsville services reduced from four per day to three per day, however, partially offset by increase in gauge to all Q400 services
- Cairns to Townsville services reduced from seven per day to five per day, however, partially offset by increase in gauge to all Q400 services
- Brisbane – Gladstone, Brisbane – Rockhampton, and Brisbane – Biloela services will be reduced marginally to match capacity to demand.
- Brisbane – Newcastle will experience material growth in seats with increased gauge to Q400 services, partially offsetting reduction in Jetstar capacity.
- Two Q300s will be relocated and based in Adelaide. All QantasLink services out of Adelaide will be operated by Q300 aircraft, as the Q400 currently in Adelaide will be relocated to Queensland.
- The two Q300s in Adelaide will allow QantasLink to look at new route opportunities in South Australian regional markets. We are in discussions with a number of stakeholders and expect to announce a new route in the coming weeks
- Both Cairns to Weipa and Horn Island services will be upgraded to Q400 aircraft with a marginal reduction in frequency.
- All QantasLink services out of Perth will be operated by either QantasLink B717s or F100s operated by Qantas Group airline Network Aviation.

We plan to publish the new schedule around Thursday 4 December 2014, with the network changes coming into effect on Sunday 29 March 2015.

All customers with existing bookings for travel on/after Sunday 29 March 2015 will be re-accommodated onto suitable other services.

Great Photos of Careflight Queensland (Aeromed) LearJet 45 VH-VVI at Mackay Airport Wednesday

Another great aircraft movement into Mackay Airport on Wednesday 26 November was Careflight Queensland (Aeromed) LearJet 45 VH-VVI which popped in from Brisbane.

After posing for some great photos, VH-VVI departed back to Brisbane.

It was heard to be using the radio callsign of "Ambulance 451".

Thanks to the Mackay spotters for sending through these great photos!

All photos taken by 'AC'  ©

Landing at Great Keppel Island Airstrip - 24 Hour Prior Notice Now Required

A recent notice to Central Queensland aviators advises that Peter Williams - who controls Great Keppel Island Airfield - that 24 hours prior notice to land at Great Keppel Island is now required.

http://greatkeppelisland.net/

ERSA Notification is pending publication.

This is due to heavy aircraft traffic recently at Great Keppel.

Pilots with landing requests are requested to please contact Peter Williams on mobile 0408 004 536.

Qld Gvt Hawker 850XPVH-SGY and Qld Police B1900D VH-PSK Call into Fraser Coast Airports

Noted making yet another visit to some Fraser Coast Airports on Wednesday 26 November were a pair of very familiar aircraft in the form the Queensland Government Airwing (State of Queensland) Raytheon Hawker 850XP bizjet VH-SGY and Queensland Police Service (Airwing) Raytheon B1900D VH-PSK,

VH-SGY had a busy day's flying, departing Brisbane and calling into Hervey Bay, Bundaberg and Maryborough, while VH-PSK departed Cairns and called into Townsville (twice), Bundaberg, Brisbane and Rockhampton.

File photos taken by Micah S  ©