Adam Thorn

The aircraft crashed south of Hamilton Island on Friday while participating in Exercise Talisman Sabre, an enormous ‘war game’ involving 30,000 participants.  

Pilot David Maddern and his wife Jan, flying in the Jabiru, were killed in the mid-air collision on Friday, but the male pilot in the other aircraft was uninjured.

The aircraft, VH-8KH, departed Singapore on 27 July at 5:07 pm as flight ZL9967 and landed in Brisbane the next day, via a stop in Darwin.

Air traffic control via satellites is a step closer after Skykraft conducted a “world-first” trial of the technology. The test used the same Very High Frequency (VHF) band traditionally employed by ATC, but that currently can only be accessed in the range of a ground-based radio.

The new aircraft are expected to arrive from late 2027 and will continue to be operated by No. 37 Squadron at RAAF Base Richmond in NSW.

Australian Aviation’s Victor Pody was on hand to capture the moment VH-ZNN, named ‘Snowy River’, landed in the Victorian capital at 8:15am as flight QF7879.