Virgin Australia Boeing B737-800 VH-YID First Visit to CQ at Hamilton Island Airport Back in Standard Livery

On Thursday 21 December, Virgin Australia Boeing B737-800 VH-YID was noted operating into Hamilton Island Airport operating the VOZ1497/1498 scheduled service from and back to Brisbane.  Notable about this flight is that VH-YID emerged from the paint-shop in Townsville only last week back in the 'standard' Virgin Australia livery and has again taken up the name 'Rainbow Beach'.

An older photo of VH-YID before it wore the 'Virgin Samoa' livery and titles.  (File photo)

CORRECTION!  We have since discovered that VH-YID has now taken up the name 'Maroubra Beach'.

VH-YID has previously operated on Virgin's overseas sectors and wore colours and titles of Virgin Samoa - which was preceded by Polynesian Blue - for operations also into Western Samoa and other Pacific Islands.  It also wore the name 'Tapu'itea'.

Also on Thursday 21 December, Qantas Airways Boeing B737-800 VH-VXQ 'Retro Roo II' visited Hamilton Island Airport operating the scheduled QFA866/867 service from and back to Sydney.

A Couple of Nice Bizjets Come and Go at Hamilton Island Airport incl MKAir7X Dassault Falcon 7X M-GMKM

On Thursday 21 December, there was also some more bizjet action over at Hamilton Island Airport including a visit from MKAir7X Dassault Falcon 7X M-GMKM.  It touched down at Hamo early in the morning from Sydney after arriving there from its (believed to be) Mildura base the day before.

File photo

After spending much of the day on the ground, it sleek Falcon departed back to Sydney and is due to return to Mildura afterwards. 

While wearing an overseas registration marking, and spending much of the last few months flying overseas, M-GMKM is reportedly still based in Australia at Mildura.

Meanwhile, a couple of familiar other Australian-based bizjets were noted coming and going at Hamilton Island Airport also on Thursday 21 December. 

Less than a week after its previous visit, Jet City (Melbourne) Gulfstream G-IV VH-CGF was back at Hamo, touching down from the Balina / Byron Gateway Airport in Northern New South Wales.  It later departed to its Melbourne (Essendon) base.

While Shortstop Jet Charter Dassault Falcon 900C VH-OAA departed Hamilton Island Airport for Essendon after it arrived from there on Tuesday 19 December.

Photo taken by Tony Haynes  ©

American Registered Bombardier BD-700-1A10 Global 6000 Bizjet N60XC Spotted at Rockhampton Airport

On Thursday 21 December, American registered Bombardier BD-700-1A10 Global 6000 bizjet N60XC was spotted on the ground at Rockhampton Airport.  It had made a before-dawn arrival from Seoul, South Korea via Townsville.

The sleek bizjet is becoming a semi-regular visitor to CQ having made several visits during different times of this year.

At the time of writing, N60XC is due to depart Rocky for Sydney later on Thursday 21 December.

Photo taken by 'IAD'  ©

After some R & R American Registered LearJet 36A Bizjet N82GG Departs Rockhampton Airport

After arriving on the weekend and seemingly not moving at all, on Wednesday 20 December, the visiting American registered and privately operated LearJet 36A bizjet N82GG departed Rockhampton Airport for the Gold Coast.  It then headed further South, reportedly to Melbourne (Essendon).

As shown in the photo above (and in previous photos posted on the CQ Plane Spotting Blog during its visits in 2015 and 2016) the LearJet has a camera on the forward-starboard side of the fuselage and is again in Australia once again completing aerial survey flights.  I have been informed that N82GG may be operating aerial mapping sorties for Google.

Meanwhile, a couple of other bizjet movements in CQ occurred on Tuesday 19 December when Shortstop Jet Charter Dassault Falcon 900C VH-OAA made yet another visit to Hamilton Island Airport.  It arrived once again from its Melbourne (Essendon) base.  At the time of writing, VH-OAA is due to return to Essendon on Thursday 21 December.

Also on Tuesday 19 December, LifeFlight (Aeromed) LearJet 45 bizjet VH-VVI "Ambulance 451" arrived into Mackay Airport from Cairns.  It looked to be operating a medical retrieval flight and later departed to Brisbane.

Finally, a couple of corporate turboprop movements this week have included Pegasus Air / Agile Aviation (of South Australia) Pilatus PC-12/47E VH-TCP departing Hamilton Island Airport for Charleville and its Adelaide base on Wednesday 20 December.  It had arrived direct from its Adelaide base over the weekend.  And The Queensland Government Airwing (State of Queensland) Raytheon B300 Super King Air VH-SGQ visited Gladstone Airport from Brisbane on Tuesday 19 December.

Photo taken by Don Williams  ©

ATSB Investigating a Recent Pair of Incidents with Local Helicopters - Bell 206 VH-SDZ Crashed near Emerald Airport - R-44 VH-WRR Ditches into Water near Hamilton Island Airport

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) is investigating a collision with terrain involving Bell 206B VH-SDZ near Emerald Airport Saturday 18 November.

Mike Didsbury / https://www.flickr.com/

The ATSB reports that "During aerial work, the pilot detected an abnormal noise and conducted a precautionary landing. As it landed, the helicopter rolled onto its side, resulting in substantial damage."

Meanwhile, a couple of other nasty helicopter incidents that have also occurred this year continue to be investigated or have had their final report released by the ATSB.

On Wednesday 8 November, Whitsunday Air Services Robinson R-44 VH-WRR ditched into water some 49km North of Hamilton Island Airport.

https://twitter.com/7NewsBrisbane/

The ATSB reports that "During cruise, the engine lost partial power and the helicopter was unable to maintain altitude. The pilot conducted an autorotation and deployed the emergency flotation system, landing on water. The crew and passengers were not injured  and were rescued by a local vessel. The helicopter was subsequently submerged in the water."

Finally, on Friday 17 March, Agusta AB206A (Bell 206) helicopter VH-DPU crashed while on a flight from Caboolture Aerodrome to Curtis Island, between Gladstone and Rockhampton, with only the pilot and one other passenger on board.

File photo

The ATSB's final report states that "The pilot reported that they tracked along the coast at about 500 ft and then turned the helicopter to the left from the coast to identify their planned landing site. The pilot was uncertain of the number of turns conducted near the landing site, but believed that it was during the second turn at about 50 ft and 40–60 kt that they suddenly felt there was ‘no power’. The pilot reported that the helicopter made one uncontrolled turn through about 360° during the descent, and at some stage they lowered the collective with the assumption the engine had failed. The helicopter initially impacted upright in the water before the airframe separated from the helicopter skids, turned through 180° and rolled onto its left side."

You can read more on the ATSB website at:  https://www.atsb.gov.au/publications/investigation_reports/2017/aair/ao-2017-033/

Virgin Australia ATR 72-600 VH-FVZ Damaged in Hard Landing at Canberra Airport - Speculation of Write-off

Over the last couple of days, I've read some posts on spotter's pages on Facebook that the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) is investigating a hard landing incident involving Virgin Australia ATR 72-600 VH-FVZ at Canberra Airport last month on Sunday 19 November.  It was operating as VOZ646 from Sydney to Canberra.

The ATSB reports that "During approach to runway 35, the aircraft encountered windshear. The aircraft landed hard, and the tail skid and underside of the rear fuselage contacted the runway. The aircraft sustained substantial damage. There were no reported injuries."

Some Facebook posts are suggesting that VH-FVZ may not be repaired and could be a 'write-off'.

Of interest, VH-FVZ was also damaged in November 2015 while on the ground at Moranbah when a massive storm passed through the Airport. It sustained damage to a wing following an incident where the winds moved the ATR while it was parked on the Airport apron.

Attached photo shows VH-FVZ parked at Moranbah Airport in early December 2015 awaiting repairs following the incident as a result of the storm.

Virgin Australia currently operates eight ATR 72-600 turboprops on services in New South Wales and Victoria - VH-FVP, VH-FVN, VH-FVQ, VH-FVR, VH-FVY, VH-FVZ, VH-VPI and VH-VPJ.

UPDATE!  Virgin Australia ATR 72-600 VH-FVZ underwent maintenance at Canberra and ferried from there to Brisbane in late January to undergo more extensive repairs.  In early March, VH-FVZ has recently returned to service with Virgin Australia.  Awesome!

RAAF Challenger 604 Bizjet A37-002 Pops into Longreach Airport on 'Official' Duties

On Monday 18 December, Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Canadair CL-600-2B16 Challenger 604 bizjet A37-002 was noted calling into Longreach Airport.  It arrived from Canberra as "Consort 99".

http://www.facebook.com/QantasFoundersMuseum

It appears that it brought Nationals Leader and Deputy Prime Minister Senator Barnaby Joyce to town to announce that the Qantas Founders Museum will receive $11.3million in Federal Government funding towards their Airpark Roof Project.

http://www.facebook.com/QantasFoundersMuseum

http://www.facebook.com/QantasFoundersMuseum

After a little while on the ground, A37-002 departed for Albury, but nearing the Queensland / New South Wales border, it was seen to then 'divert' to Brisbane.

As posted below, A37-002 passed through CQ - including to Longreach Airport - over the latter part of last week on what looked to be a training flight.

A Trio of Nice Bizjets at CQ Airports - Brand New Challenger 605 VH-LEF - Citation CJ2 VH-RJB - Citation Sovereign VH-ZEK

The run of nice bizjets to call into CQ has continued on Monday 18 December with a nice trio of locally-based bizjets popping into various Central Queensland Airports.

Perhaps the nicest of the three was brand new Linfox Express Charter / Air National Australia Canadair CL-600-2B16 Challenger 605 VH-LEF which was photographed arriving into Rockhampton Airport from Townsville.

It had earlier departed Cairns for Townsville before continuing to the beef city.  After a couple of hours on the ground, VH-LEF departed Rocky for Brisbane before continuing to Sydney and Melbourne (Essendon) where it is based.

VH-LEF is a brand new 2017-build Canadair Challenger 605 bizjet (c/n 6100) and was only placed on the Australia register on Thursday 7 December and delivered to Linfox Express Charter at Essendon on Sunday 10 December.

Of interest, the 'former' VH-LEF is 2004-build Bombardier Challenger 604 bizjet (c/n 5577) and it departed Essendon back on Monday 16 October for Apia, Honolulu and Tucson where it was then cancelled from the Australian register on Friday 27 October and re-registered N875BA.

VH-LEF (c/n 5577) at Rockhampton Airport in 2015  (File photo)

Its final visit to CQ was in late August when it spent four nights parked at Hamilton Island Airport, arriving from and then departing back to Essendon.

Meanwhile, also on Monday 18 December, Edwards Coaches Cessna 525 Citation CJ2 VH-RJB was noted touching down at Emerald Airport very early in the morning from its Armidale base and Sydney.  It then departed to Townsville and Ayr before later returning to Armidale.

Finally, Silver Linings Aviation Cessna 680 Citation Sovereign VH-ZEK was noted visiting Gladstone Airport also on Monday 18 December.  It arrived from its Bankstown base and Brisbane. 

Later, after departing Gladstone Airport, VH-ZEK was noted to initially fly North and to a position overhead The Port of Hay Point, located approximately 40 kilometres South of Mackay, where it looked to complete several circuits.  This was the second bizjet to do this over the last week with Melbourne Air Holdings (Executive Airlines) Cessna 680 Citation Sovereign VH-EXG completing a similar pattern last Friday 15 December - see Blog post below.

VH-ZEK was then heard to fly West towards Moranbah and completed a wide circuit over the area.  It then turned and flew South to the Oaky Creek Coal mine between the towns of Tieri and Middlemount where it completed a low pass of the area.  From there, VH-ZEK returned back to the capital.

Sincere thanks to local plane spotter 'IAD' for taking the time to capture and send through these great photos of VH-LEF at Rockhampton Airport!

All photos taken by 'IAD'  ©

New GSL Aviation Cessna 208B Grand Caravan VH-TGX Spotted at the Whitsunday Airport at Shute Harbour

During a recent visit to the Whitsunday Airport at Shute Harbour, I was able to grab a quick photo of the recently registered GSL Aviation Cessna 208B Grand Caravan VH-TGX.

VH-TGX was delivered to GSL Aviation in late September wearing the American registration marking of N910HL.  It was placed onto the Australian register at the start of October after completing it trans-Pacific ferry flight from Merced, California via Honolulu, Majuro and Townsville.

VH-TGX initially spent time operating from GSL Aviation's Cairns base but returned to Shute Harbour in early November.

VH-TGX is currently operating alongside fellow Cessna 208 Caravan VH-TIY out of the Whitsunday Airport on their numerous scenic and other general charter flights around the region.

Finally, in late October we reported that GSL Aviation was operating another Cessna 208 Caravan VH-KNQ, which appeared to be 'cross hired' from the Darwin-based Kakadu Air Services.

https://www.facebook.com/whitsundayairportshuteharbour/

Since the start of December, VH-KNQ now seems to have commenced operations with Gold Coast-based Seair Pacific / Istlecote on their daily transfer flights in and out of Lady Elliot Island and the Fraser Coast, along with the occasional run into inland CQ on Fly-in Fly-out (FIFO) charter flights. It was noted flying into Middlemount Aerodrome from Hervey Bay (Fraser Coast) Airport last Thursday 7 December.

American Registered LearJet 36A Bizjet N82GG Back at Rockhampton Airport Again!

After last visiting Central Queensland in mid-2016, American registered and privately operated LearJet 36A bizjet N82GG arrived into Rockhampton Airport on Saturday 16 December, believed to be from the Gold Coast.

As shown in the photo above (and in previous photos posted on the CQ Plane Spotting Blog during its visits in 2015 and 2016) the LearJet has a camera on the forward-starboard side of the fuselage and is again in Australia once again completing aerial survey flights.  It was reported during its previous visit to Australia N82GG is operating aerial mapping sorties for Nearmap - the international provider of high resolution aerial imagery.

Sincere thanks to local plane spotter Kayanne H for sending through this great photo of the LearJet which is not parked in the most friendly spot for photos!

Photo taken by Kayanne Hardsman  ©