Traffic

AUSTRALIAN – DC-9-32 VH-TJR carrying Australian Aircraft Sales logo departed Melbourne on August 21st bound for Wilmington, Ohio. There the aircraft will join the fleet of Airborne Express. Ferry routing was the long way round via the Middle East and the North Atlantic. 737-376 VH-TJD ‘Gallant’ arrived in Melbourne on September 9th from Auckland on termination of its ferry flight from Seattle. This is the sixteenth and final 737-376 on order for Australian. Next arrival from Seattle will be in January when VH-TJE the first of nine 737-476s is delivered.

EASTERN AUSTRALIA AIRLINES – A fourth Jetstream 31 has been ordered for delivery in January. Until its arrival Eastern Australia have leased a Jetstream 31 from Netherlines. Arriving in Sydney in early September was VH-LJR msn 649 ex PH-KJC. HAZELTON – took delivery of their second Shorts 360-300 at Cuda! on September 10th. Registered VH-MJH msn SH-3758 it is expected into service in early October.

ANSETT AIR FREIGHT – Arriving in Melbourne on August 28th was DC-8-62 N791AL Reportedly belonging to Miami based Arrow Air the DC-8 was in an all white scheme. Since arriving the DC-8 has been used on domestic freight services round Australia.

QANTAS- 7 47-438 VH-OJA ‘City of Canberra’ arrived in Sydney on August 17th after a record 20hrs 9mins non stop delivery flight from London.

Potpourii

DHC-6-300 N205CA msn 647 ferried Honiara to Brisbane on July 26th. This aircraft which was on delivery to Flight West Airlines will be registered VH-XFC. Another DHC-6-300 to ferry through our area was G-BGMD msn 629. Noted at Darwin on August 13th, it was on delivery to Cook Islands Airways who have registered it ZK-KHA. EMB-110P1 N124MS msn 298 flew into Darwin on August 23rd after completing its transpacific ferry. Since registered VH-LSE, the Bandeirante is locally based with Lloyd Aviation Jet Charter.

BN-2A/3 N900TA flew from Pago Pago to Auckland on August 22nd. This was the first of two Trilanders on delivery to Skyferry, Wellington. The BN-2A that crashed into Mt Cunningham on August 8th was ZK-EVK of Aspiring Air. Another New Zealand airliner to be lost in this period was Convair 580 ZK-FTB of Fieldair Freight. The Convair crashed into Manukau Harbour shortly after taking off from Auckland on July 31st. (Refer NZ News)

Ex-NSCA King Air B200C VH-NSF departed Essendon for the United States on August 25th. Wearing US registration N54HF, the King Air was flown across the Pacific by Southern Cross Aviation. Another Australian propjet to leave the country in this period was Merlin IIIC VH-JCB of Aeromil. It made the long flight to its new owner in Venezuela. Ex NSCA Cessna Caravans ‘ VH-JEJ and VH-JEY were to be ferried back to the States in mid September. GAF N-24A msn 128 was handed over to the RAAF at Avalon on August 2nd as A18-401. The Nomad will be operated by ARDU from Edinburgh.

Bristow AS332L Super Puma G-TIGF was operating out of Kununurra to the oil rig ‘Margie’ in early August. Another two Britishers seen recently in Darwin were Do228-200 G-OALF which departed for Kupang on August 9th after completing its survey assignment in the North Territory and Western Australia. Inbound from Kupang on August 15th was PA31-310 G-BFIB. This aircraft is presently working on a survey contract in the Darwin area. Fairchild F27F N127HP was ferried into Cairns from Honiara by Southern Cross Aviation on September 13th. The aircraft which carried ‘Lake Argyle Diamonds’ markings flew from Cairns to Lake Argyle the following day.

Oshkosh 89 and the Oz Connection

Though the 1989 Australian Aviation Oshkosh Group saw many unique and historical aircraft on their tour, I would like to make mention of those from our part of the world that were noted along the way.

Our first stop was Honolulu and on a spare day I took the opportunity of having a walk round the airport. Along Lagoon Drive there are a number of hangars and lying against one of these was the fuselage of GAF N-24A N37806. Douglas DC-3 N99131 has been part of the Honolulu scene since late 1972 when it arrived there. after ferrying up from Melbourne. Better known to us as the Ansett Air Freight VH-ANX, this Wright powered DC-3 has spent most of its life in Honolulu on the ground. Now it is flying with local freight operator Genavco Air Cargo and in fact is the only DC-3 flying out of Honolulu at present.

Transiting Honolulu during our stay was ex Australian DC-9-30 VH-TJO which was en route from Melbourne to Long Beach. Final destination was Wilmington, Ohio with Airborne Express. A visit to the Boeing plant at Everett on July 26th revealed that Air New Zealand’s first 747-419 was to be next off the production line. The aircraft itself was all silver with only the rudder painted. Outside were the first two 747-438s for Qantas VH-OJA and VH-OJB. The following day Renton was visited and outside was the prospective VH-TJD a 737-376 for Australian Airlines. Once again the aircraft was all silver except for a painted rudder and a US test registration.

Among the 15,000 plus aircraft at Oshkosh I could only readily identify one ex Aussie. This was Ryan STM NC17343 msn 458 now owned by a Bill Rose of Sth Barrington, Illinois. Like most of the show aircraft at Oshkosh, the condition of the Ryan was immaculate. This particular Ryan came to Australia during the War and saw service with the RAAF as A50-17 before becoming VH-AGV. (Oshkosh is reviewed in greater detail elsewhere this issue. )

Friday August 4th we spent the morning at the Paul E Garber facility at Silver Hill in Maryland. This is where aircraft belonging to the Smithsonian collection are stored before being brought back to life for display downtown. What an incredible collection of aircraft but the one that was of special interest was the only Boeing B-1’D in existence. Named ‘Swoose’ 403097 of the USAAF spent sometime in Australia and New Zealand in late 1942, early 1943. While watching the airliners at Washington National, I noted Midway Airlines DC-9-32 N935ML which was the one time VH-CZL of Ansett.

Spare time during our stay in Orlando, Florida allowed us to visit a number of airfields in the area. One of these was Titusville and there with the Valiant Air Command was Lockheed 10A N19HL. This veteran was delivered to MacRobertson Miller Airlines in December 1938 and became VH-ABV ‘RMA Gascoyne’. In 1948 it was reregistered VH-MMD before being sold to the US in 1954. Though recently damaged in a thunderstorm, the Lockheed should be back in the air by now.

On our spare day in Tucson I was driving down in the SE corner of Arizona looking for airfields near the Mexican border. I came across a former WWII airfield which had housed a B-25 training unit. This was now being used as the Bisbee-Douglas Airport. Still standing were some of the original hangars and in one of these I found a Cessna 206 N9423G. This was being prepared by its owners, Tribal Air Communications,for a ferry flight across the Pacific to its new home in Hoskins, New Britain.

Annual Australia/New Zealand Bizjet Census

Our annual Bizjet census for Australia/New Zealand shows that fleet numbers at the beginning and end of this period are the same 87 units. What is not shown is that in the last six months of our report, we have seen the departure of 10 aircraft out of a total for the year of 14. Most of these aircraft were medium size jets in the Falcon 200/BAe 125 category. Hopefully this is just a levelling out of the fleet and that the trend will not continue.

Imports this year totalled 14 aircraft of which major contributions were Citation 4 and Canadair 3. Last year our market leadership was shared between the Citation and the Falcon with 20 units each. This year the Citation with 21 is very much the leader with the Falcon (15) falling back to share equal second with Learjet.

For the future we will see the delivery of 5 Falcon 900s for the RAAF. In fact the first two N450FJ and N452FJ arrived in Sydney on September 4th and 17th respectively. The 5 Falcon 900s will replace in service the two BAC 111s and 3 Falcon 20s presently used by the RAAF. The 2 748s will transfer to No32 Squadron. Pacific Aviation will take delivery of a BAe 125-400F in late September, while also in prospect are a 737-33A for Elders/IXL and a Citation V for North Broken Hill.

Imports

BAe 125-600B YN-BPR imported by Sherrard Aviation, Melbourne 04/89 for operation by National Jet Charter, Melbourne Boeing 727-100 N727WF delivered to Westfield Aviation, Sydney 02/89 CL-600S Challenger VH-MXX delivered to Multiplex Inc, Perth 06/89 as N600JW CL-601/3A Challenger N601RP delivered to Palmer Tubes, Brisbane 11/88 CL-601/3A Challenger VH-ASM delivered to Associated Airlines, Melbourne 06/89 Cessna 500 VH-HVM imported by Yulgibar Holdings, Melbourne 09/88 as N888GZ Cessna 500 N70454 imported by Aeromil, Sydney 08/89 for Neilsen & Moller, Sydney (VH-NMW reserved) Cessna 550 VH-JVS delivered to Johnston Village Services, Sydney 11/88 as G-JETD Cessna 550 VH-LJK delivered to Lloyd Aviation Jet Charter, Adelaide 01/89 as N785CA. (Note that this aircraft was exported to the US 11/88) Falcon 900 N900FJ delivered to IEPL Aviation, Wellington 04/89 Gulfstream Ill N103GC delivered to Trans Pacific Enterprises, Sydney 01/89 (aircraft first arrived wearing registration N1SF and later changed to N103GC) Learjet 25B VH-OVS delivered to Shortstop Jet Charter, Melbourne 11/88 as N10BU Westwind 1 VH-AJV delivered to Pel-Air Aviation, Sydney 02/89 as N186G Westwind 2 VH-NGA delivered to Pel-Air Aviation, Sydney 01/89 as N97AL.

Exports

BAe 125-800B ZK-EUI Elders Finance, Auckland – sold to NSCA, West Sale 11/88 and registered VH-NMR. Sold in the US 05/89 as N125JW BAe 125-800B ZK-MRM Chase Corporation, Auckland – sold in the US 08/89 BAe 125-800B ZK-TCB Wilson Neill, Dunedin – sold in the US 05/89 as N785CA (replaced in service by Falcon 10 VH-MEI) CL-601/3A Challenger N601RP Palmer Tubes, Sydney – returned to US based operations 06/89 (see imports) Cessna 550 VH-LJK Hacritas P/L, Sydney – sold in the US 11/88 as N785CA (note that this aircraft returned 01/89 and reverted to VH-LJK) Cessna 650 N143WR IEPL Aviation, Wellington – returned to US based operations Cessna 650 N106CC IEPL Aviation, Wellington – returned to US based operations (replaced in service by Falcon 900 N900FJ) Falcon 100 VH-JDW National Safety Council, West Sale – repossessed and sold in Malaysia 08/89 Falcon 20C VH-FWO Flightways, Perth – sold in the US as spares aircraft 09/88 (replaced in service by Westwind VH-JPW) Falcon 20F VH-HPF Hawker Pacific, Sydney- sold in the US 05/89 as N503F Falcon 20F VH-NCF Venture Stores, Melbourne – sold in the US 03/89 as N83D Falcon 20F VH-NMN Mt Newman Mines, Perth – sold in the US 03/89 as N900DB (replaced in service by Westwind VH-LOF) Falcon 200 VH-BGL Bond Corporation, Perth – presently in the US awaiting sale Learjet 25B VH-LJB Lloyd Aviation Jet Charter, Nowra – sold in the US as N266BS 06/89.

Registration Changes

CL-600 Challenger VH-NKS registered to Australian Capital Equity Corp, Perth – previously operated as N888KS Cessna 501 VH-LCL registered to Auscorp Air, Sydney – previously operated as N2652Z.