With ANZAC Day on Thursday 25 April, the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) has released details of planned flypasts during Queensland commemorations - including some Central Queensland locations. Details from the RAAF flypasts for Anzac Day for Australia webpage (https://www.airforce.gov.au/news-events/flying-activities-events) indicate a single RAAF C-17A Globemaster transport aircraft from Number 36 Squadron based at RAAF Base Amberley will conduct a flypast of ANZAC Day commemoration activities on Thursday 25 April around Central Queensland, including in the Fraser Coast region as s ..read more

On Monday 26 February, Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) (Cobham SAR Services Pty Ltd) Bombardier CL-600-2B16 Challenger 604 bizjet VH-XNF as "Rescue 550" flew down from Cairns to operate with LifeFlight Rescue Bell 412EP VH-XCY as "Rescue 522" low-level North-East of Bundaberg.  File photo After a long time, they flew in to land at Bundaberg Airport. After a refuel VH-XNF "Rescue 550" departed Bundaberg Airport back to Cairns.  VH-XCY "Rescue 522" departed the area to the Royal Brisbane Hospital.  While Bowenville (near Toowoomba) based Cessna 525 Citation ..read more

On Sunday 25 February, recently registered (on Tuesday 13 February) Helicorp (Australian Army) Leonardo S.P.A. Helicopters (Agusta) AW139 helicopter VH-YQJ was spotted at Rockhampton Airport.  It arrived from the Oakey Army Aviation Centre and later departed to Townsville. It looked to have flown up from Melbourne (Essendon) to Oakey via Wagga Wagga, Tamworth and Toowoomba-Wellcamp the previous day. VH-YQJ is registered to Helicorp (Toll Group) and we believe is the fourth and final AW139 helicopters that have been leased to the Australian Army's 5th Aviation Regiment based at Towns ..read more

On Sunday 25 February, Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Alenia C-27J Spartan transport aircraft A34-010 was spotted arriving into Rockhampton Airport.  It was flying as "Wallaby 61" and flew down from Townsville. After around an hour on the ground, A34-010 "Wallaby 10" departed Rockhampton Airport for RAAF Base Amberley.  It then departed to Wagga Wagga and then back to Amberley. Of interest, A34-010 "Wallaby 10" originally departed Amberely on Friday 23 February and landed at Cairns.  It then flew up to RAAF Base Scherger and down to Townsville on Saturday 24 Feb ..read more

On Saturday 24 February, North Queensland Junior Rugby League games in Gladstone saw the arrival of a couple of nice turboprop passenger charter flights from Cairns as the local Central Queensland Capras took on the Northern Pride across several age divisions. First to touch down at Gladstone Airport was Skytrans Airlines Dash-8-100 VH-QQC as SKP959 from Cairns.  During the afternoon, it departed back there as SKP960.  Soon after, Aerlink (formerly Hevilift) ATR 72-500 VH-FVR as HT805 also landed at Gladstone Airport from Cairns and looked to return to there as HT806 ..read more

On Thursday 22 February, New Zealand registered Pacific Aerospace PAC-750 ZK-SDT was noted passing through Mackay Airport while on a ferry flight from New Zealand to Papua New Guinea (PNG). ZK-SDT in New Zealand last week It arrived from the Gold Coast and was enroute to Cairns however, due to a technical problem, ZK-SDT diverted into Townsville.   Of interest, ZK-SDT had flown across from New Zealand during the latter of last week.  It has been registered to Aero Dynamics Ltd of Mt Hagen in Papua New Guinea since mid September 2023. UPDATE!  On Sunday 25 ..read more

On Thursday 22 February, a new tail was spotted making its first ever visit into Gladstone Airport in the form of National Jet Express (formerly Cobham) Dash-8-Q400 Next Gen VH-IYP. It was operating as 'JTE392' / "Jetex 392" and arrived from Brisbane and departed to Rockhampton Airport on what seems to be a stop on the weekly closed Fly-in Fly-out (FIFO) charter flights between Brisbane and Rocky which started in October 2023. VH-IYP then departed Rockhampton Airport and returned to Gladstone Airport before continuing back to Brisbane all as 'JTE393' / "Jetex 393"  This ..read more

On Thursday 8 February, Australian Army (Helicorp) Leonardo S.P.A. Helicopters (Agusta) AW139 helicopter VH-YBF was noted ferrying South from Townsville to the Oakey Army Aviation Centre.  It looked to fly South via airwork including missed approaches at Mackay and Bundaberg Airports, plus a fuel stop at Rockhampton Airport. File photo VH-YBF was heard to be using the radio callsign of "Finch 22". This ferry flight comes a day after recently registered (November 2023) now Australian Army (Helicorp) Leonardo S.P.A. Helicopters (Agusta) AW139 helicopter VH-YQC was noted ferrying ..read more

On Monday 26 February, Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Airbus A330-200 / KC-30A Multi Role Tanker Transport (MRTT) A39-005 was spotted visiting Rockhampton Airport. A39-005 was flying as "Dragon 47" and earlier flew up from RAAF Base Amberley to a position North-West of Rocky where it went into a 30-minute holding patter to wait for another RAAF KC-30A A39-004 as "Windsor 01" which was flying down from Cairns.  Both KC-30A aircraft flew together to near Gayndah where they did a long holding lap before A39-004 "Windsor 01" flew on to Amberley and A39-005 "Dragon 47" tu ..read more

On Tuesday 13 February, Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Boeing B737-7DT(BBJ) A36-001 was noted visiting Bundaberg Airport. File photo It was heard to be flying as "Envoy 63" and flew up from Canberra via Coffs Harbour.  A bit later it departed back to Canberra via a missed approach at Tamworth. Photo taken by Peter Sajko   ..read more