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program in Farnborough was recently retired, and we have been working on a solution for recurrent training and initial training for new pilots. With this new rating, I hope to assist in keeping our pilots current. I’m very excited to get yet another new perspective on the King Air.”
WorldLinX operates the aircraft multi-pilot and uses a fixed team of eight pilots who are all contract aside from Vanhoof. They fly the B200s about 1,200 hours a year combined.
“OO-ASL was the company’s only aircraft between 2008-2012. For the London 2012 Summer Olympics we bought OO-LET as a backup. These days, both planes are used all the time for relay work only,” Vanhoof said. “The business is expanding with more and more events requiring both aircraft at the same time, which leaves us without in- house spares in case of technical failures. We might add additional aircraft to the fleet in the future.”
A unique mission
There are just a few operators in this specific segment of the market, Vanhoof said, adding that WorldLinX collaborates with other companies when more lift is needed. With events scattered across the globe – Argentina, Chile, Italy, Kenya, New Zealand, Spain and the United States, to name a few – a big part of meeting demand is getting the Belgium-based King Airs to event sites.
“There is quite a bit of experience and expertise that goes into these productions, both on the aeronautical side and the broadcast side,” Vanhoof said. “Often the convenience of having our own aircraft and
“There is quite a bit of experience and expertise that goes into these productions, both on the aeronautical side and the broadcast side.”
They were not interested in our transit visa, which took a long time to apply for. Pearl Aviation pulled the plane aside and took us to the hotel they had booked for us. We drank a beer, ate and went to sleep.
Day 6 (Sunday): It was the only free day for our 36-hour rest and maximum duty of seven consecutive days. We visited a military museum and had a pint with the pokies (electronic poker machines).
Day 7 (Monday): A concrete mixer pouring a new swimming pool under his window awakens Thieu at 5 a.m. Pearl Aviation picked us up, and because the plane had already been refueled, we could leave immediately for the mining town of Mount Isa (YBMA), where we would make a quick fuel stop. The
field was uncontrolled, so we stayed in touch with Brisbane Center down to the ground. Onward to Gold Coast (YBCG), where Platinum Business Aviation Centre was the handler. They forgot to arrange a hotel and everything was full due to school holidays. Eventually, we found a hotel about 20 minutes away. It was
a crowded tourist hotel but chic. We ate on the terrace and bought lunch for the next day.
Day 8 (Tuesday): Our final leg took us 1,200 nautical miles to New Zealand (NZAA). We had 60-knot tailwinds and made the crossing in one go. We calculated the point of no return, double-checked the
FEBRUARY 2025
KING AIR MAGAZINE • 9