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Melbourne-Based Charter Air Is Hopefully Due to Take Delivery of Its First Electra Freighter (C/n 1109) During the Course of This Issue. Starting Life as an L-188C for Pacific Southwest Airlines, 1109 First Flew on November 21 1959, and Was Converted to L-188CF Freighter Configuration in 1976. For the Past 15 Years the Electra Has Been With Detroit-Based Zantop International Airlines, Registered as N340HA (Pictured in 1984). In Australia It Is Due to Be Registered VH-CHD.
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November Nine Zero One Three Victor
Who would have believed that in 1995 here in Australia we would be talking about seeing and hearing such aircraft types as the Lockheed Super Constellation, the Lockheed Electra and the Douglas DC-4. The restoration project on the Super Constellation has been well documented in this magazine while the first Lockheed Electra freighter for Charrak Air is still on track for delivery in July. For some months now there has been talk of a Douglas DC-4 being imported by a Brisbane based company and most of us have been pretty sceptical that we would again see a DC-4 in Australian skies. As this is written however the departure of the DC-4 from the US for Australia was imminent. Pacific Air Freighters (Queensland) P/L has purchased Douglas DC-4 N9013V from Lynch Air Cargo of Billings, Montana. The planned ferry routing across the Pacific for N9013V takes the aircraft from Chino in east Los Angeles to Honolulu, Johnston Island, Majuro, Honiara and Brisbane where it is scheduled to arrive in late May. Pacific Air Freighters will utilise the DC-4 on charter work out of Brisbane to the Pacific Islands. Douglas DC-4 msn 27352 started its life in May 1945 at Santa Monica, California where it was built as a C-54E for the United States Army Air Force (serial number 44-9126). Later with the United States Air Force, 44-9126 stayed with the military until November 1975 when it was sold at an auction held at the Davis Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona to local company Dross Metals. In December 1978 the DC-4 was registered N9013V to Transglobal Airways who operated the aircraft until January 1980 when they sold it to Flying Fish of Indiana. By late 1980 N9013V was based in Florida moving from one dealer to another so it was no surprise when in November 1981 the DC-4 was confiscated by the authorities at Nassau in the Bahamas for smuggling. In June 1984 N9013V was purchased by Lynch Air Tankers of Billings, Montana with the owner Denny Lynch operating the DC-4 under the name of Lynch Air Cargo. While on the subject of the DC-4 I felt it would be of interest to mention the last DC-4 we had in Australia prior to N9013V. In February 1980 Air Express sold its DC-4s VH-EDA and VH-EDB to Basler Air Services in the United States as N5581T and N5581S respectively. N5581S left Essendon for Brisbane on February 17 where the aircraft remained until 0100 on the 19th when it departed for Tarawa. My records show that N5581T departed Essendon for Brisbane on March 9 however nothing has been noted of the date, time or routing of its departure from Brisbane. What we do know however is that the arrival of the N9013V will close a 15 years gap since a DC-4 was last seen and heard in Australia.
Regional Airline News
Flight West Airlines took delivery of its sixth EMB-120RT Brasilia at Brisbane on May 16 after ZS-MMB which carried the colours of Sun-Air, ferried in from Darwin. After preservice maintenance the Brasilia entered service with Flight West as VH-XFR. In other Flight West news, the airline will lease its DHC-6-300 Twin Otter VH-XFB to the RAAF for operations between Tindal and Darwin, while arriving at the Flight West hangar at Brisbane from Mareeba in late May were Talair DHC-6-300s P2-RDV and P2-GVI. Impulse Airlines commenced a twice daily (Monday to Friday) direct service from Newcastle to Brisbane on May 22 using Jetstream 41 equipment. National Jet Systems took delivery of DHC-8-300 VH-NJT at its Adelaide base on April 19 after the aircraft ferried in from the Cocos Islands and Perth. VH-NJT arrived in Adelaide in an all white scheme, however over the next few days it was painted with a dark blue tail with National Jet titles under the cockpit window (refer pic p14, June ’95 AA). VH-NJT departed Adelaide on April 26 for Mount Isa then to Darwin where it was planned to commence regional airline operations on May 1, however these were delayed until later in the month. It is interesting to note that National Jet has been allocated the IATA code OG for its regional Dash 8-300 services, an identity which it shares with the Caribbean based airline Air Guadeloupe. In early May National Jet was awarded the BHP (Petroleum) Darwin to Troughton Island contract which is presently held by Skywest Aviation. To service the contract it is reported that National Jet will add a fourth Dash 8 to its fleet in September with DHC-8-102 N802MX msn 013 being considered. National Jet associate company Surveillance Australia took delivery of the first of six PBN-2B-20 Islanders on order on May 18 when VH-ZZT ferried into Adelaide from the UK. The second Islander VH-ZZU arrived in Adelaide on May 22. Sunstate Airlines took delivery of Short 360 VH-SUR at its Townsville maintenance base on May 21. VH-SUR commenced its ferry flight to Townsville from Guernsey in the British Channel Islands. En route stops were made at Rome, Iraklion, Luxor, Riyadh, Muscat, Ahmadabad, Calcutta, Bangkok, Phuket, Jakarta, Denpasar and Darwin.
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Metro Fleet Update
Aeromil took delivery of Metro III N31072 msn AC-504 at its Maroochydore base on April 18. Imported as a stock aircraft N31072 was last operated in airline service by Skywest Airlines of St George, Utah. N31072 was ferried across the Pacific in company with the Metro II N335BA which was on delivery to International Air Parts. Also noted at Maroochydore in late May was PBN-2A Islander 9M-AZV of Federal Hotels International. Jetcraft took delivery of Metro III Expediter OY-CHH at Archerfield on April 2. The Metro was still operating under its Danish registration as of late April. International Air Parts took delivery of Metro II N335BA at its Bankstown base on April 18 after the Metro ferried in from Pago Pago and Norfolk Island. N335BA will be operated by International Air Parts as a freighter and was registered VH-IAR. The Metro II was originally delivered to Empire Airlines of Utica, New York in July 1978 as N102UR before being sold to Britt Airways in January 1986 as N335BA. Skippers Aviation has ordered a Metro 23 which will be delivered to its Perth base in August. Skippers has also taken an option on a second Metro 23. Skywest Aviation has sold its CASA 212 VH-ICJ to Trygg-Flyg of Nykoping, Sweden who will operate the aircraft for the Swedish Coast Guard. VH-ICJ was registered SE-LDC before departing Perth for Nykoping in early May.
Airline News
Airlink will add a ninth BAe 146 series aircraft to its fleet effective from July 1. The aircraft concerned is BAe 146-100 VH-NJZ which was previously operated by Airlink between August 1991 and November 1994 when it was returned to National Jet Systems. Airlink will base VH-NJZ in Perth where it will be utilised on increased services in WA. Ansett Australia took delivery of its 21st Boeing 737-300 at Melbourne on May 16 when -33A VH-CZT arrived after completing its ferry flight from Dothan, Alabama. VH-CZT has been leased from Ansett Worldwide Aviation Services and ferried from Dothan to Melbourne via San Diego, Hilo, Apia and Nadi. VH-CZT entered service on May 21 when it operated AN1280 from Melbourne to Cairns. Fokker F28-1000 VH-FKA was withdrawn from service in Brisbane on December 9 last year, however it returned to service on April 11 as a result of a ground accident sustained by BAe 146-300 VH-EWM. After repairs in Melbourne VH-EWM returned to service on May 24 however the F28-1000 VH-FKA continued in operation and at time of writing was not planned for withdrawal until mid June. Ansett Worldwide Boeing 757-23A N250LA was leased to America West Airlines on April 20 as N916AW. Boeing 757-23A N275AW which was delivered to Ansett Worldwide in June 1994 has been sold to the Government of Saudi Arabia. A two year association between Ansett Worldwide and the Sultanate of Oman came to an end in early April when wet leased Boeing 737-33As VH-OAM and VH-OAN were withdrawn on completion of their contract. During their period of service with Oman Air VH-OAM and VH-OAN achieved an ‘on time’ reliability figure of 99.6%. VH-OAM operated its last flight for Oman Air on April 1 before departing the following day for Colombo and Kuala Lumpur. VH-OAN operated its last service for Oman Air on April 3 and followed VH-OAM to Kuala Lumpur on the 5th. At Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Airlines stripped and repainted the aircraft in the colours of EuroBelgian Airlines. VH-OAM departed Kuala Lumpur for Brussels via Bombay and Luxor on April 13 and was followed by VH-OAN on April 23. On arrival in Brussels VH-OAM and VH-OAN were registered OO-LTW and OO-LTO respectively.
Air New Zealand took delivery on April 22 of Boeing 767-319ER ZK-NCJ and not ZK-NOJ as was printed in Traffic/June. Boeing 767-209ER ZK-NBH departed Auckland for Honolulu on February 15 still carrying its New Zealand registration. On arrival in the United States it was then registered N682SH before being leased to Air Canada as C-FUCL. Boeing 767-209ER ZK-NBF which was withdrawn from service in mid April was then ferried to Sydney where Qantas painted the Boeing in Air Canada colours. ZK-NBF departed Sydney in early June for Auckland. Australian Air Express has announced that it will lease two more BAe 146 freighters from National Jet Systems. The aircraft concerned are a BAe 146-100QC which is planned for delivery in July and a BAe 146-300QT for delivery in October. The BAe 146-100QC for Australian Air Express is msn E-1002 which as ZS-NCA operated with Safair however on May 1 ZS-NCA returned to Woodford from Johannesburg on completion of its lease. The BAe 146-300QT for Australian Air Express is msn E-3194 which was delivered to TNT GD Net in September 1994 as G-BTHT. Australian Air Express continues its lease of the Air Transport International DC-8-62F N51CX and it is now expected that this aircraft will remain in service on the Perth to Melbourne route until at least July. Another interesting DC-8-62F in our area in this period was LX-TLA of Cargo Lion. Using the callsign ‘Trans Lux 202’ LX-TLA departed Melbourne on May 7 for Bangkok and Lahore carrying horses. Qantas ordered three Boeing 737-400s and two Boeing 767-300s from Boeing on May 3. The first Boeing 737-400, VH-TJX is planned for delivery in December with VH-TJY and VH-TJZ following in early 1996, while the Boeing 767-338ERs, VH-OGP and VH-OGQ are planned for delivery in March and June 1996 respectively. Options have also been taken on one Boeing 737-400 and two Boeing 767-300s for 1997 delivery. It will be interesting to see whether the Boeing 737-400s are given the Boeing sub designation of -76, which was that of TAA/Australian, or the -38 of Qantas.
Cessna Caravan Fleet Expands
This is a busy time for the Cessna Caravan and in this issue we can record the delivery of no fewer than four new aircraft to Australian operators. Cape Flattery Silica Mines took delivery of a Cessna Grand Caravan at Cairns on May 8 after N1203D msn 0434 ferried in from Honiara. Later in the month the Caravan was noted in service with Cape Flattery registered VH-CFL. Cape Flattery previously operated PBN-2A-26 Islander VH-CFZ however this aircraft has been traded in to Australian Jet Charter on the Grand Caravan. Ngaanyatjarra Air Cessna 208B N1114W msn 0416 arrived in Sydney on May 8 from Honiara on completion of its trans Pacific ferry from the United States. Later registered VH-NGS, the Caravan departed Bankstown for Broken Hill and Alice Springs on May 14. Northern Territory Aerial Services took delivery of Cessna 208B N1071G msn 0348 at Cairns in late May with the aircraft later being delivered to its Darwin base. Pearl Coast Airways of Onslow has taken delivery of the former Ngaanyatjarra Air Cessna 208 Caravan VH-NGD. The Caravan was initially flown from Alice Springs to Jandakot for fitment of floats before being delivered to Pearl Coast at Onslow. Uzu Air took delivery of Caravan N1288D msn 0428 on May 24 after the aircraft ferried into Cairns from Honiara.
Pacific Island News
Air Fiji DHC-6-300 Twin Otter DQ-AFL departed Suva on April 28 for Pago Pago, Christmas Island and Honolulu with the aircraft reportedly being sold in the United States. Air Niugini Dash 7 P2-ANN ferried from Port Moresby to Perth via Cairns and Alice Springs on May 13 as the PX630. On arrival in Perth the Dash 7 then entered the Hawker de Havilland hangar for planned maintenance. On completion of its maintenance lay up in July P2-ANN will be replaced in the Hawker de Havilland hangar by Air Niugini’s second Dash 7, P2-ANP. Air Tahiti took delivery of its third ATR 72 F-OHJA at its Papeete base in early June. During its ferry flight from Toulouse to Papeete F-OHJA was routed via Sydney for demonstration purposes. The delivery of F-OHJA to Air Tahiti brings its ATR fleet to six: ATR 42-300 F-ODUC, -ODUD, -ODUL and ATR 72-202 F-OHAG, -OHAT, -OHJA. Air Vanuatu returned its EMB-110P1 VH-BWC to Qantas in late June on termination of its lease. As a replacement Air Vanuatu has taken a two year lease on the Aeromil EMB-110P1 VH-FCG with the Bandeirante being placed on the Vanuatu register before being delivered in mid June from Maroochydore to Port Vila. Airlines of the Marshall Islands first Saab 2000 V7-9508 was planned for delivery from Linkoping to Nadi in early June. As SE-017 the Saab 2000 was ferried from Linkoping to Bournemouth on April 12 for outfitting and painting in the colours of Airlines of the Marshall Islands. A second Saab 2000, V7-9509, is planned for delivery to Airlines of the Marshall Islands in late 1995. Royal Tongan Airlines will reportedly lease BAe 748-2B V7-8203 from Airlines of the Marshall Islands.
RFDS/Queensland Fleet Update
In Traffic/June we briefly mentioned that the Royal Flying Doctor Service/Queensland Division had purchased two King Air B200s. Since then further news on these aircraft has come to hand. Both King Air B200s were purchased by the RFDS from Gantt Aviation of Georgetown, Texas with the first, N501TR, arriving in Brisbane on March 20. Initially N501TR was registered VH-DAX, however in line with the remainder of the RFDS/Queensland fleet it later became VH-FDI. The second King Air B200 was previously operated in Germany as D-IGSY, however it was registered to Gantt Aviation as N56GA before being delivered to Brisbane on April 9. N56GA later became VH-RFX though it will eventually be registered in the VH-FD- block. Delivery routing across the Pacific for both aircraft was from Oakland to Honolulu, Pago Pago and Brisbane with the King Airs being ferried by Aviation Services International. Both King Airs will have a cargo door conversion carried out by Hawker Pacific at Bankstown and on completion they will operate from new RFDS bases at Brisbane/Eagle Farm and Rockhampton. For the record the RFDS/Queensland division currently operates from bases at Cairns, Charleville and Mount Isa with King Air B200Cs VH-FDB and VH-FDS and King Air C90s VH-FDM, -FDP, -FDW and -FDZ. In other news Essendon based Interair was preparing Mitsubishi MU-2P VH-XMZ for export in late May. Previously operated by E C Menzies Electrical from Essendon Airport it is reported that VH-XMZ is destined for New Zealand. To replace the MU-2P E C Menzies Electrical has purchased Merlin IIIC N90GT and this aircraft is expected to take up residence at Essendon. Pel-Air Aviation Westwind VH-AJS was destroyed in a crash near Alice Springs on April 27 with the three crewmembers on board being killed. At the time VH-AJS was operating a freight service on behalf of TNT on the route from Darwin to Alice Springs and Sydney. Gulfstream III N103GC of Trans Pacific Enterprises is expected to have departed the country on its sale in the United States by the time this is read. Trans Pacific Enterprises will then take delivery of a Gulfstream IV which they will base in Sydney. United States registered bizjets are common visitors to Australia however in this period we have seen a number of non-US registered corporate aircraft. Arriving in Melbourne on May 4 was Anglovaal Challenger 601/3A ZS-SKD. The Challenger was also noted at Perth, Sydney and Cairns. Challenger 601 HB-IKX of General Electric Capital was noted at Sydney on May 2 while Falcon 50 C-GWEI of Westcoast Energy of Vancouver arrived at Essendon from Nadi on May 9. Cessna 650 PK-KIG departed Sydney on May 10 after being hangared with Australian Jet Charter for a few weeks. Cessna 650 PK-WSE has also been receiving attention at Australian Jet Charter however it will be registered N650WJ before departing for the United States. Finally Falcon 20F RP-C1980 of the Central Bank of the Philippines was noted in the Hawker Pacific hangar at Sydney on May 1.
Kamov KA-32A for Hevi Lift
Hevi Lift Helicopters of Mount Hagen, Papua New Guinea has operated the Kamov Ka-32C for a number of years. In early May however it took delivery of its first Kamov Ka-32A with the arrival in Cairns of RA-31586. The Kamov was flown into Cairns from Singapore on board Aeroflot Ilyushin Il-76TD RA-76403, which itself had an interesting story to tell. Though the Il-76 carried Aeroflot titles it is reportedly owned by Yakutavia based in Yakutsk in Siberia. The flight number carried by the Ilyushin was VLK1742 with VLK being the IATA designation of Vladivostok Aviation. Hevi Lift presently has Kamov Ka-32C RA-31031, Bell 212 VH-EMJ and Bell 212 P2-HCK working out of Cairns. Helicopters (NZ) of Nelson has been awarded the ANARE contract for 1995/6 and to service this they are to import two Sikorsky S-76A helicopters. The two aircraft concerned are N89H msn 760078 and N15464 msn 760228 both of which were previously operated by Petroleum Helicopters of Lafayette, Louisiana. Lloyd Helicopters Bell 214ST VH-LAT was written off on April 7 when it ditched in the Timor Sea near Troughton Island.
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