Planespotting at Bundaberg - Australian Border Force, LifeFlight and Seair Pacific

With third-term Queensland school holidays almost at an end, we decided to hit the road for a few days and unwind at lovely Bargara. This ultimately provided an opportunity to visit Bundaberg Airport on a couple of occasions while visiting the local area.

On the list of aircraft I have not sighted or photographed for many years was the venerable Twin Otter, so was keen to capture one if an opportunity presented itself. Luck on side, Seair Pacific de Havilland DHC-6-100 Twin Otter VH-ZKF made a brief stop at the rum city to pick-up a lone passenger while flying from Hervey Bay to Lady Elliot Island on Friday 29 September.

Manufactured in 1967, VH-ZKF is by no means a young aircraft, however, reportedly received attention before being delivered to Seair Pacific in 2016 where it is now predominately used to fly tourist to Lady Elliot Island from Coolangatta / Gold Coast, Maroochydore / Sunshine Coast, Hervey Bay / Fraser Coast and Bundaberg Airport.

  

According to the AVTRAC Maintenance Tracking Facebook page, VH-ZKF was extensively restored / refurbished a couple of years ago by PremiAir Aviation Maintenance Pty Ltd at Jandakot Airport, Western Australia.

A complete history of VH-ZKF's career can be found by clicking onto the following link : http://twinotterarchive.com/DHC-6_43.html

You will note VH-ZKF was registered VH-TZL for many years, and saw service with several airlines including AeroPelican, Noosa Air, Sunstate Airlines, Flight West Airlines, Whitaker Air Charter and Karratha Flying Services during that time.

 

 

 

Other sightings included LifeFlight Learjet 45 VH-VVI which made a brief stop at Bundaberg Airport on Thursday 28 September before getting airborne again.

 

Departing Brisbane about mid-morning, it appears VH-VVI was conducting crew training as it completed airwork at Hervey Bay and Bundaberg before returning early that afternoon.

 

 

 

 

While not knowing the aircraft's most recent movements or reason for the purpose of the visit / temporary basing, Cobham Aviation / Australian Border Force (ABF) de Havilland Dash 8-200 VH-ZZI was however observed parked at Bundaberg Airport on Thursday 28 September and again on Friday 29 September.

 

Inflight photos - Alliance Airlines Fokker 70LR VH-JFE - Brisbane to Gladstone

As reported in a previous post, my oldest son turned thirteen in August and to help celebrate the milestone of entering the teenage era, wanted to take a joyflight from Gladstone to Brisbane and back as he equally shares a passion for aviation as I do.

Coincidentally, Alliance Airlines which had commenced services to Gladstone only a couple of weeks earlier, was advertising one-way tickets to/from Brisbane for $59pp, and luck have it, we were able to secure flights between the two cities which coincided with the day of his 13th birthday.

First flight of the day, we departed Gladstone for Brisbane aboard Alliance Airlines Fokker 70LR VH-QQX as VA2700 on Wednesday 16 August, and found ourselves landing at Brisbane Airport only 47 minutes after leaving the port city.

If by chance you missed the trip report, here is the link again :

http://airqueensland.blogspot.com.au/2017/08/inflight-photos-alliance-airlines.html

Later that afternoon, we returned to Gladstone aboard Fokker 70LR VH-JFE as VA2911 and the photos published in this post predominately depict our departure from Brisbane, flying along the Queensland coast, as well as the twin-township of Boyne Island / Tannum Sands and parts of Gladstone during our decent into the port city.

Accompanying the many photos captured during the flights are three inflight videos, and these clips can be viewed at our associated Youtube Channel :

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjnBFRhwSZLZFV5IvxijYxA