Saturday, October 30, 2010

Rockhampton Airport Action Last Week

Some photos from Ben O at Rockhampton Airport last week.

Monday 25 October saw this brightly coloured Eurocopter EC135 helicopter VH-WKK (pictured below) pass through Rockhampton. It is registered to Helicopters Australia in W.A.


Noted (possibly for the first time in Rockhampton) on Wednesday 27 October was Singapore Flying College Cessna 510 Mustang VH-SQW. It is pictured below on one of its many touch-and-go's on Runway 15.


Meanwhile, later in the day 5 Australian Army Sikorsky S-70A-9 Blackhawk helicopters passed through Rockhampton for a refuel before heading South. Two of these helicopters are pictured below parked on the apron.


Also one of the Republic of Singapore (RSAF) Boeing AH-64D Apache helicopters is pictured below (finally!!) in the air using callsigns "Astro" and "Atom".

Monday, October 25, 2010

Australian and Singaporean Helicopter Action at Rockhampton Airport

Despite not having the F-16s flying on Saturday 23 October, there was still plenty of helicopter action to keep us enthusiasts happy!

Pictured below preparing to lift off from Runway 33 are Republic of Singapore (RSAF) Aerospatiale AS332M Super Puma ‘273’and ‘272’, which flew out together for Shoalwater Bay.



In the afternoon, three Australian Army Sikorsky S-70A-9 Black Hawks arrived into Rocky from the North. A25-105 is pictured below parked on the apron, while A25-204 and A25-201 are pictured flying out to the South together as “Knights Black”.



Thursday, October 21, 2010

Singapore Air Force F-16s and More at Rockhampton Airport

On Monday 18 October, Rockhampton Airport came alive with the sound of the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) General Dynamics (Lockheed Martin) F-16D+ fighter jets taking off on their first sorties of Exercise Wallaby 2010.

Pictured below is "Banshee", which consisted of '661', '667', and '676', taking off on Runway 15.




About 30 minutes later, "Lightning", consisting of '672' and '680' also took off for the Shoalwater Bay training area.



Meanwhile, on a slightly more sedate note, Alliance Airlines Fokker 100 VH-FKA was noted operating from and back to Brisbane on behalf of QantasLink. This occured only a few weeks ago when several of QantasLink's Dash-8-Q400 aircraft were grounded.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Exercise Wallaby 2010 Action from Last Weekend at Rockhampton Airport

There was action aplenty at Rockhampton Airport on Friday 15 October with 4 of the planned 6 Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) General Dynamics (Lockheed Martin) F-16D-52+ Fighting Falcons arriving from Singapore and Darwin. Lockheed C-130H Hercules ‘733’ also arrived in support of the F-16s and is pictured below early the next morning parked on the Airport apron with some of the F-16s in the foreground.


Later, on Saturday 16 October, the final 2 F-16s arrived from Singapore and Darwin and were supported by Lockheed C-130H Hercules ‘731’.

The photos below show the scenes at the airport early on Sunday 17 October.

From the GA area of the airport, you can see the Aerospatiale Super Puma helicopters parked on Runway 04/22, and the F-16s and the Hercules parked on the Airport apron.


From the Eastern side of the Airport (along Canoona Road near the Capricorn Helicopter Rescue Service) you can get a great view of all of the visiting helicopters – Boeing AH-64D Apaches in the foreground, and Aerospatiale AS332M Super Puma in the background – all parked along Runway 04/22.


The Apaches have seen little flight time however, after being grounded due to a mechanical failure and crash landing of one of these aircraft back in Singapore.

Some of these photos and more can also be viewed on our Flickr page HERE.

Meanwhile, Air New Zealand Boeing B747-400 ZK-NBV operated flights from and back to Singapore each night over last weekend. The jumbo was captured on video arriving at about 8pm local last Sunday.


Lastly, this is what the airport looked like with Air New Zealand parked on Gate 6, a Virgin Blue Embraer E-190 also parked at the terminal, and some of the locals who came out for a look at the jumbo.



Local spotters have been told that this area on the Southern side of the terminal will be closed off to the public soon. We at CQ Plane Spotting hope not!!

Monday, October 18, 2010

BizJets at Clermont Aerodrome last week

Clermont Aerodrome shed its tag of a quiet little country airstrip last week with three bizjet visitors coinciding with the offical opening of the Clermont Coal Mine Project.

Tuesday 12 October saw Raytheon 390 Premier 1A VH-VHP being noted on climb out of the airport late in the afternoon.

Meanwhile, on Friday 15 October, two lovely bizjets in the form of Queensland Government Raytheon Hawker 850XP VH-SGY and Gold Coast based Cessna 680 Citation Sovereign VH-VPL, flew Government and other dignitaries to Clermont for the opening of the Clermont Coal Mine Project. It is also believed that Skytrans Dash-8-100 aircraft VH-QQE and VH-QQJ also made several flights from and back to Brisbane carrying guests for the mine opening. Some photos of the day are below.


Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Cessna 200 Series Fly-in at Mackay Airport

So I made the 600km round trip on Saturday 9 October from Clermont to Mackay to have a look at the aircraft that came to the 4th Annual Cessna 200 series Fly-in… unfortunately it was a fizzer due to the bad weather around Central Qld… Participants were stranded in Blackall (for example) and other participants from as close as Townsville cancelled as late as Saturday morning. In the end only five aircraft made it safely to Mackay, they are pictured below parked at the Mackay Aero Club...

C206 VH-ECW (from SE Qld)


C210 VH-OAT (from SA)


C210 VH-NPL (from Gold Coast)


C210 VH-TFE (from Victoria)


C210 (pressurised) VH-TYV (from SA)


There were a lot of other GA aircraft noted, while Virgin Blue B737-700 VH-VBY and Jetstar A320 VH-JQG were the only commercials noted and are pictured below.


Monday, October 11, 2010

QantasLink to increase services to Emerald & Moranbah Airports

From Qantas: QantasLink last week announced an expanded flying schedule covering the key Queensland mining destinations of Emerald, Moranbah and Roma from October.

QantasLink Executive Manager, Mr Narendra Kumar, said the increased capacity was in anticipation of growing demand from the mining and resource sectors. “QantasLink is very pleased to be able to support the Queensland economy and in particular cater to the changing needs of these communities,” he said.

The new flights will add more than 706 seats per week across the three destinations during this period, including:
- an increase from 27 to 30 weekly return Brisbane-Emerald services , operating on Sundays, Mondays and Thursdays, adding 396 seats to the route each week;
- an increase from 15 to 18 weekly return Brisbane-Roma services, operating on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays, adding 216 seats to the route each week; and
- one additional Brisbane-Moranbah return service, increasing the number of return services on the route each week to 12, adding 94 seats to the route each week.

Mr Kumar added that 28 out of 30 weekly return services on the Brisbane-Emerald route would be operated by the new 74-seat Q400 aircraft. In addition, 15 of the 18 weekly return Roma services and 11 of 12 weekly Moranbah services would be operated by the 50-seat Q300 aircraft.

In addition to the increase in services to Emerald, the Central Queensland News reports that construction continues at Emerald Airport, with alterations and additions to the existing terminal - including new check in counters, expanded departure and arrival lounges, extensions to the kiosk, airlines offices, a baggage conveyor system, an upgrade to toilet facilities, and refrigerated air-conditioning - entering the final stage.

Also on the list is a new Qantas Club Lounge which is expected to be open by the end of the year.

You can read the full story HERE.

Saturday, October 9, 2010

Some photos from Rockhampton Airport

With sincere thanks to Ben O who brings us these photos from Rockhampton Airport...

On Friday 8 October, Australian Army Sikorsky S70A-9 Blackhawk helicopters A25-101 and A25-205, visited Rockhampton and are pictured below.



On Wednesday 6 October, Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) Boeing CH-47SD Chinook helicopters 88190 and 88191, and Aérospatiale AS 332M1 Super Puma helicopters 283 and 222 are pictured below.




Lastly, pictured below is a late afternoon photo of two QantasLink (Sunstate Airlines) Dash-8-Q400s parked on the Rockhampton Airport Apron on Wednesday 15 September. VH-QOJ (new colours) is in front of VH-QOE (old colours).

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Cessna 200 Series Fly-in at Mackay Airport this weekend

The Cessna 200 Series Association 2010 Spring Fly In is to be held at Mackay this coming weekend. Participants are expected to arrive on Friday 8 October for a full weekend of local sightseeing and social activities before departing on Sunday 10 October. Most participating aircraft should be parked around the Mackay Aero Club building on the North-Eastern corner of the airport.

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Recent Rockhamton Airport Action

With thanks to information provided by my contacts whilst I was out of the country, I can report on recent movements at Rockhampton Airport in connection with the RSAF Exercise Wallaby 2010.

The first arrival for the exercise is believed to be RSAF Lockheed C-130H Hercules ‘734’. It arrived on Sunday 19 September and departed on Monday 20 September, flying as “Singa 9071”.

The RSAF Aérospatiale AS332M Super Puma helicopters have arrived from Oakey and were noted parked along side Runway 22 at Rocky on Wednesday 22 September.

Volga Dnepr Antonov AN124 RA-82044 arrived at Rocky late on Saturday 25 September as “VDA1210”. After unloading its cargo of RSAF Boeing AH-64D Apache helicopters (which are now also parked alongside Runway 22), it departed Sunday 26 September to Amberley.

From Sunday 26 to Wednesday 29 September, Air New Zealand B747-419 ZK-NBU operated the first round of passenger charters from Singapore, arriving at Rocky around 8pm each night, and departing around 2 hours later back to Singapore. On the final night however, the jumbo departed empty direct back to Auckland. Ben O was at the airport on Monday 27 September and provides the photo below.


Lastly, two RSAF Boeing CH-47SD Chinook helicopters, accompanied by another Lockheed C-130H Hercules, should be arriving into Rockhampton today or tomorrow.

Tiger and Jetstar problems affect Mackay Airport passengers

Mackay Airport was thrown into chaos last Tuesday 28 September, after Tiger Airways cancelled its Mackay to Melbourne flight due to technical issues with its A320 aircraft. A replacement flight was scheduled for the next day. The Morning Bulletin report is HERE.

Meanwhile, The Aviation Herald (www.avherald.com) reports that on Saturday 20 September, a Jetstar A320 was descending towards Mackay when it suffered a loss of data systems which supply the primary flight displays in the flight deck. The Australian Transportation Safety Board has opened an investigation into the incident, reporting that the "primary flight displays including altitude and airspeed data were lost from the normal sources but were available from the standby system". With the data systems recovered, the crew continued for a safe landing in Mackay.

Saturday, October 2, 2010

Recent Mackay and Gladstone Airport visitors

On Tuesday 28 September, Pel-Air (Regional Express - REX) SAAB 340A VH-EKD operated a charter flying Brisbane-Gladstone-Roma-Brisbane.

On the same day, Canadair Challenger 604 Bizjet N604KJ was noted leaving Mackay Airport for Brisbane.

Meanwhile, pictured below at Mackay on Saturday 2 October were Surveillance Australia / Australian Customs and Border Protection Service (Cobham Aviation) Reims F406 VH-YZE, McDermott Aviation's Bell 214B-1 N49732, and Toll Express Metro III VH-UUO.