Far North Queensland Skies Cairns and Townsville Airport, Australia

Far North Queensland Skies Cairns and Townsville Airport, Australia

Copyright Notice

Copyright Notice

All photos on Far North Queensland Skies are copyrighted to me, or the photographer of that photo. All photos that are downloaded from Far North Queensland Skies are strictly intended for personal use only. Anyone, including the media, who would like to use any of the photos on the Blog, for any purpose other than personal use, must contact me in writing to obtain permission to use the photo(s). Any photo not taken by me, that was obtained from another photographer or another source, that appears on this Blog, will be duly acknowledged as such.

Monday 31 October 2016

FNQ EXTRA - The AN-12 returns

    FNQ EXTRA - The AN-12 returns

After nearly a decade since the type last graced Cairns, a welcome return of this veteran freighter occurred on Monday 17 October 2016 with the first arrival of Ukraine Air Alliance’s UR-CAK.  This example is a familiar one as it has visited Australia several times before and has been recently operating out of Brisbane to Honiara and Nauru. Cairns however has not been fortunate in witnessing many AN-12 movements in the past and in fact only received its first example into the new millennium. This may have been related to Heavylift’s Shorts Belfast freighter based here, which took on many charters that would have required an AN-12 type freighter. The AN-12 was of course already familiar during the nineties in locations such as Townsville, Darwin, Perth, Port Hedland, Brisbane and Melbourne when several examples from various operators performed cargo charters. Our records show only three AN-12’s had previously visited Cairns in the period 2001 to 2007.  They were Volare’s UR-LTG, Airmark’s UN-11650 and Air Bridge Group’s ER-AXA.

A selection of images of these in Cairns are posted below.


Volare AN12 UR-LTG, Photo by GAFLIKS

Volare AN12 UR-LTG, Photo by GAFLIKS

Air Mark UN-11650 AN12 at Cairns.
UN-11650 arr'd on the 3/2/2007 and dep'd 4/2/2007.

ER-AXA AN12 Air Bridge Group at Cairns, Photo by GAFLIKS.

ER-AXA AN12 Air Bridge Group at Cairns, Photo by GAFLIKS.
Thanks to GAFLIKS for providing this report.

Air Vanuatu ATR-72 YJ-AV73 delivery flight

AVN700 YJ-AV73 AT76 Cairns-Port Vila, was Kupang-Cairns 29/10/2016


YJ-AV73 AT76 at Cairns.

YJ-AV73 AT76 at Cairns.
YJ-AV73 AT76 at Cairns, Photo Supplied.

Australian Corporate Jet Centres Pty Ltd Hawker 800XP VH-RIU

Noted at Cairns on 29/10/2016 Hawker 800XP VH-RIU.

VH-RIU H25B at Cairns, Photo by GAFLIKS.

Sunday 30 October 2016

MPM FINANCIAL LLC Gulfstream 650 N650GU

N650GU GLF6 Cairns-Honolulu, was Sydney-Cairns 26/10/2016

N650GU GLF6 at Cairns.

Teratorn LLC Gulfstream V N5000X

N5000X GLF5 Papeete-Cairns

N5000X GLF5 at Cairns.

Falcon 7X N747RL departs

N747RL FA7X Cairns-Kavieng, was Kona-Rabaul-Cairns 23/10/2016

N747RL FA7X at Cairns.

Friday 28 October 2016

Gulfstream V VP-CKC

VP-CKC GLF5 Cairns-Hong Kong, was Hong Kong-Cairns 20/10/2016

VP-CKC GLF5 at Cairns.

Thursday 27 October 2016

Yajasi Pilatus PC-12 PK-UCG

PK-UCG PC12 Cairns-Sentani, was Sentani-Cairns 25/10/2016

PK-UCG PC12 at Cairns.

Tuesday 25 October 2016

Indonesian Air Force (TNI Angkatan Udara) Boeing 737-400 A-7306

A7306 B734 Kupang-Cairns-Canberra

A7306 B734 at Cairns.

A7306 B734 at Cairns.



Thursday 20 October 2016

Jetgo Embraer ERJ-140LR N297SK delivery flight

JGO99 N297SK ERJ140 Townsville-Brisbane, was Koror-Townsville 19/10/2016

N297SK ERJ-140 at Townsville, Photo by Leroy.

Wednesday 19 October 2016

NASA Coral Reef Imaging missions conclude - N198GS GLF4

NASA Coral Reef Imaging missions have concluded today with the aircraft departing Cairns this morning for its return to the U.S.

N198GS flew 11 missions over the Great Barrier Reef using a Portable Remote Imaging Spectrometer from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory California Institute of Technology. The Gulfstream IV has been modified for the NASA mission with the placement of this camera.

The aircraft arrived on the 2/9/2016 from Majuro and departed today to Majuro.

Below are a series of pictures of the aircraft detailing some of the equipment used for the missions.

Special thanks to the crew and agent who made this possible.

NASA - N198GS GLF4.

N198GS GLF4 at Cairns.

N198GS GLF4 - picture of camera.

N198GS GLF4 - picture of camera.

N198GS GLF4 cabin and equipment.

N198GS GLF4 equipment.

N198GS GLF4 cockpit.

N198GS registration plate.

N198GS GLF4 at Cairns completing one of its missions.



Tuesday 18 October 2016

Ukraine Air Alliance Antonov An-12 UR-CAK departs

UKL4045 UR-CAK AN12 Cairns-Moro

UR-CAK AN12 at Cairns, Photo by GAFLIKS.

UR-CAK AN12 at Cairns, Photo by GAFLIKS.

UR-CAK AN12 at Cairns.

Monday 17 October 2016

Ukraine Air Alliance Antonov An-12 UR-CAK arrives

UKL4044 UR-CAK AN12 Johor Bahru-Cairns

UR-CAK AN12 at Cairns.

UR-CAK AN12 at Cairns.

UR-CAK AN12 at Cairns.






Sunday 16 October 2016

Saturday 15 October 2016

Nanshan Jet Boeing 737 B-5286

B5286 B737 Sydney-Cairns

B5286 B737 at Cairns.

Air North Embraer ERJ-170 VH-ANF first visit

ANO160 VH-ANF E170 Darwin-Gove-Cairns

VH-ANF E170 at Cairns.

Pratt Aviation Pty Global Express XRS VH-FGJ

VH-FGJ GLEX Cairns-Sydney, was Sydney-Cairns 12/10/2016

VH-FGJ GLEX at Cairns.

Friday 14 October 2016

Monday 10 October 2016

RAAF AP-3C Orion A9-665

STRK7 A9-665 Cairns-local-Townsville, was Townsville-local-Cairns 7/10/2016

A9-665 P3 at Cairns.

A9-665 P3 at Cairns.

A9-665 P3 at Cairns.

A9-665 P3 at Cairns.

A9-665 P3 Surveillance Operator positions.

A9-665 P3 cockpit.

A9-665 AP3C registration plate.

A9-665 P3 at Cairns.

A9-665 P3 at Cairns.

A9-665 P3 at Cairns.

A9-665 P3 at Cairns.



Sunday 9 October 2016

Air Tahiti ATR72-600 F-ORVU delivery flight

F-ORVU AT76 (Kupang)-Cairns-(Nadi)

F-ORVU AT76 at Cairns.

F-ORVU AT76 at Cairns.