Traffic

Air Link have recently added the former Hazelton Airlines PA31-350 VH-DVR to their fleet. Air Link, who are based at Wagga, also added the former Amann Aviation Commander 690 VH-N YC to their fleet in 04/92.

Western NSW Airlines who now prefer to be called Western Airlines commenced operations from Wagga to Bankstown on 01/05. Western, who are planning to import a Metro III in 08/92, have leased PA31-325VH-ADI and PA31-350s VH-KGE and VH-TXD to service their new route. Western have also purchased Cessna 310R VH-IBM from Hazelton Airlines and it has been added to their RPT fleet.

Qwestair commenced twice weekly operations in 01/92 from Port Hedland to Telfer via Marble Bar using Cessna 310R VH-TRN, which is leased from Polar Aviation in Port Hedland.

Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia

Delivery details of King Air 200C G-OJGA to the RFDSNictoria Section were recorded in Traffic/June. When this King Air enters service in 09/92 as VH-FDG it will bring the number of this type in the RFDS fleet to 14 and increase their turbine fleetto 22 units. As at 06/91 the RFDS fleet consisted of 38 aircraft, which are operated by 5 Sections from 14bases throughout Australia. These sections and their aircraft are as follows – Queensland – Cairns: King Air B200C VH-FDB, -FDS, King Air C90 VH-FDP; Charleville: King Air C90 VH-FDZ; Mt Isa: Queen Air B80VH-CRF, King Air C90-l VH-FDM,-FDW. NSW – Broken Hill: King Air B200 VH-MSZ, King Air 200C VH-MSU, GAF N-22B Nomad VH-MSF Victoria – Derby/WA: King Air C90 VH-FDT, King Air B200C VH-KFN, PA31-325 VH-MW C. Central – Adelaide: King Air B200C VH-HEO, PA31-350 VH-NPA, -SAQ, -TFX; Alice Springs: King Air B200C VH-FDR, PA 31-325 VH-FML, -FMU; Port Augusta: King Air B200C VH-FMN, PA31-325 VH-FDA, -FMO. Western Australia – Kalgoorlie: Cessna 425 VH-EGQ, -EGR, -EGS, PA31-325 VH-EGP; Carnarvon: PA31-325 VH-AYT; Jandakot: PA31-325 VH-AYS,-LDZ, PA31P-350 VH-HFD, Cessna 441 VH-JFD, -YFD; Meekatharra: Cessna 441 VH-NFD, PA31-325 VH-LDW; Port Hedland: Cessna 441 VH-LFD, PA31-325 VH-DER,-LDX.

Other propjet news concerns King Air 200s VH-XDB and VH-XFB of FlightWest Airlines, which were advertised for sale in early 05/92. Skywest Aviation King Air 200C VH-KZL was noted in Darwin on 02/05 carrying the attractive red and white colours of the Australian Customs Service. Intercity Mills Cessna 425VH-ICO was sold last year to the RFDS. After modification by Pacific Aviation at Bankstown the Cessna 425 entered service in 03/92 with the Eastern Goldfields Section as VH-EGQ and named ‘Keith Parry’.

Airline News

Air New Zealand Boeing 767-204ER ZK-NBJ departed Auckland for Singapore on 13/05 to commence six months lease to LOT (Polskie Linie Lotnicze). It is believed that ZK-NBJ will operate with LOT in a scheme noted on the aircraft at Brisbane on 10/05. On this occasion the Boeing was carrying Air New Zealand colours but with their titles replaced by that of LOT. Air New Zealand have also leased out 767-204ER ZK-NBI to the Dutch Caribbean operator Air Aruba.

Boeing 727-277 VH-RMN still carrying the colours of Polynesian Airlines was withdrawn from Ansett Australia service in mid May. The following week VH-RMN was rolled out carrying the colours of Eastwest Airlines. Eastwest BAe 146-300 VH-EWR re-entered service on 01/05 from Brisbane after being painted with the additional markings ‘Wild About Tassie’ and ‘Tasmania Australia’s Best Holiday’.

Ansett F27-200 VH-MMV departed Melbourne on 01/05 for Alice Springs, Port Hedland and Denpasar enroute to Norwich, England and its new owner Air UK (Engineering). The departure of VH-MMV reduces the Australian F27 fleet to seven units of which only four are active. Still in service are -100 VH-CAT with the CSIRO and -500 VH-EWP with BHP Engineering at Essendon (Navy L ADS contract) and -100 VH-NLS and -700 VH-JCC with Charter Cruise Air in Sydney. In storage are Ansett -200 VH-MMR at Tullamarine in the colours of Airlines of South Australia and Australian Regional’s -600s VH-TQS and VH-TQT in Brisbane.

Ferry Flights

The Impulse Transportation Group based in Sydney have imported a Beech 1900D and are shortly to import a Beech 1900C-1 for operation on their night freight contracts for Ansett Air Freight and Fairfax. The Beech 1900D VH-IMP was delivered in late 05/92 while the Beech 1900C-1 VH-SMH is planned for delivery in mid 07/92. The Beech 1900D, which is the first of its type in our region has the manufacturers serial number UE-7 and is a new aircraft offthe production line. The Beech 1900C-1 which has manufacturers serial number UC-56 was delivered in 03/90 to Mohawk Airlines of Syracuse, New York as N 1568B. Meanwhile,GAF N-24A VH-W FF was noted at Moorabbin on 05/05, where it was being prepared for export to a New Zealand based operator. It is believed that this former demonstrator will be the first of two to be exported to New Zealand.

Cook Islands Airways ceased operations in 09/91 and their DHC-6-300 ZK-KH A was ferried to New Zealand for sale. On 10/05 the Twin Otter transited Brisbane, while enroute from Blenheim to Kuala Lumpar, on delivery to Malaysia Airlines as 9M-MDO. In TraffidJune, we mentioned the arrival at Perth/ Jandakot of DHC-6-300 N502CS. This Twin Otter was previously owned by Chevron Overseas Petroleum Inc. , ofthe USA and was on delivery to West Australian Petroleum. BN-2A VH-FCJ was noted at Cairns on 13/04 enroute to Rabaul, PNG where it has since entered service with local operator Airlink. The BAe/Ansett Flying College at Tamworth are to import nine PA-34-200T Seneca’s and the first of these, VH-YSA, arrived at Brisbane on 24/04 after completing its Trans-Pacific ferry. Metro III ZK-NSQ of Air Nelson departed Auckland on 08/04 bound for Pago Pago. It is believed that the Metro will eventually join the UK based regional airline Air Corbiere. AESL CT-4Bs ZK-FZF, -FZG and -FZH using the callsign Global 3 departed Auckland on 29/04 for Norfolk and Lord Howe Islands and onward delivery to the Royal Thai Air Force. Noted being unloaded from a ship in Cairns on 29/04 was DHC-2 Beaver N77WF

Solomons Boeing 737-400 Delivery Record

Solomon Airlines Boeing 737-4Q8 H4-SOL ‘Guadalcanal’ flew into Melbourne on 01/05 on the termination of its Trans Pacific delivery flight from Seattle. En route H4-SOL broke the world record distance for the type when it covered the 3,065nm (5,676km) from Majuro to Melbourne in a block time of 7 ho1;1rs 55minutes. The delivery flight of the Solomon Airlines Boeing originated in Port Angeles, Washington and from there it was ferried to Boeing Field before departing for Honolulu and Majuro in the Marshall Islands. From Majuro H4-SOL flew a great circle track on its flight to Melbourne which took the Boeing overhead Nauru, Honira and Brisbane. After pre-service maintenance with Australian Airlines H4-SOL, which also carries Royal Tongan titles, departed Melbourne on 17/05 for Honiara. On 19/05 H4-SOL entered service with Solomon Airlines when it operated IE702 from Honiara to Cairns and Brisbane. With the entry into service of their Boeing 737-4Q8 Solomon Airlines withdrew their Boeing 737-2T5 from service on 19/05. The following day H4-SAL departed Honiara for Christchurch, where Air New Zealand carried out predisposal maintenance.

A second Boeing 737-400 to be delivered in this period was Australian Airlines 10th, VH-TJN ‘Egret’ which flew into Melbourne on 06/06. As AUS 1396, VH-TJN was ferried from Port Angeles to Melbourne via Honolulu and Nadi. Australian Airlines staff have voted to name their 15th Boeing 737-476 VH-TJS ‘Jabiru’ thus continuing the theme of naming the Boeing 737-476fleet after Australian birds. The names allocated to the Australian Boeing 737-476’s still on order are VH-TJO ‘Lorikeet’, VH-TJP ‘Petrel’, VH-TJQ ‘Bellbird’ and VH-TJR ‘Cockatiel’.

Foreign Transports

Each month we see a variety of interesting foreign transport aircraft visit Australia and this period was no exception. Two former Aeroflot Ilyushin II-76TDs operating for the United Nations were the star attractions. In Traffic/May, wemademention of II-76 TD SSSR-76798 and how we were unable to identify the operator of this aircraft. On 31/03 and 17/04 SSSR76798 again visited Melbourne and still we haven’t solved the puzzle. According to ATC the operator was Target Air Freight while the FAC advised that the aircraft was being leased by a Swiss company and that the local agent was from New Zealand. If Target Air Freight are now the owners ofSSSR-76798 does anyone lmow what country they are from? On 02/05 another United Nations Ilyushin charter was planned through Melbourne and this time sister aircraft SSSR-76797 operated the flight. SSSR-76797 carried the titles of Penas Air Cargo, Indonesia and inbound to Melbourne from Jakarta the aircraft used the flight number PNSI0L

On 29/04 Douglas DC-8-63CF N815CK of American International Airways operated from Sydney to Perth as QFA582, while Douglas DC-8-73CF N873SJ of Southern Air Transport flew from Melbourne to Hong Kong on 10/05. Boeing 707-321B N2138 flew from Honolulu to Perth via Cairns on 23/04. Though this aircraft carries a civilian registration it is believed that it was being operated by the United States Air Force Systems Command. Meanwhile, Gulfstream IV 10108 using callsign PATIOS carried the Secretary of the US Army to a number of Australian airfields between 02/05 and 10/05. Though the Gulfstream carries the colours of the Presidential fleet it is actually owned by the US Army. US Navy Douglas C-9B 161529 using callsign N ALO261 flew Darwin to Sydney on 01/05 while another C-9B 159119 was noted at Hobart on 03/05.