Year: 2026

On this week’s Australian Aviation Podcast, special guest host and former Rex and Virgin Australia pilot, Captain Michelle Huntington, returns to lend Jake her regional aviation expertise as they unpack all the big news from outside the big smoke.

VH-NHO touched down in Parkes on Tuesday afternoon after a flight from Perth, having flown 18 years for Network after its delivery in 2008. It comes as QantasLink looks to replace its Fokker 100s with newer aircraft, including mid-life Embraer E190s.

Speaking to ABC’s 7:30, RAAus chair Michael Monck said that one accident does not necessarily point to wider systemic problems. It comes as the organisation faces scrutiny over training shortfalls that allegedly contributed to the deaths of 20-year-old Luke Smith and his brother and cousin.

Following an unblemished record and nearly six months of service at Coulson Aviation, on 10 March 2025 Stewart Khouri was involved in a flight incident in which he damaged the helicopter that he was operating in efforts to tackle a bushfire at Canning Peak from the air.

Skytrans, which took the SmartLynx brand in July last year to bring it into alignment with other airlines in the Avia Solutions Group, has brought back its former branding following the collapse of SmartLynx Latvia at the end of November.

VH-RRP, a Kubíček BB142P hot air balloon, sustained the 45cm tear while being cold-inflated prior to an early-morning flight near Beaudesert in Queensland on 18 October last year, and was patched up in the field with “specialised adhesive tape”, according to investigators.