Page 12 - feb25

TRIP REPORT (CONT.)
aircraft and the oil and added Prist. At 400 feet, we made a right turn and were over water within a minute. An ICAO requirement was we must have HF radios, but we only had VHF. We told Brisbane Center, exchanged telephone numbers (our satellite phone) and did a test interview, which worked reasonably well. We were told we might have to continue from the middle VFR, but in the end we could stay IFR. We were advised that Jetstar Airways flight 131 followed a parallel route and that we could share position reports through them.
We arrived in New Zealand without any problems, and we taxied to the corporate terminal using Air Center One handlers. We had to disinfect the cabin for five seconds with the surplus of our insecticide and wait a
few minutes (no food was allowed on board for this leg). Customs clearance was remote, so we didn’t see anyone directly. Our luggage was X-rayed, and we filled in another passenger arrival card before heading to our hotel. It was 18 degrees Celsius and rainy.
Day 9 (Wednesday): Thieu stayed in the hotel while Jean-Yves and I completed the technical installation on OO-ASL once we were on-site. This involved connecting cable, programming frequencies, and testing to ensure everything was ready for broadcasting.
Day 10 (Thursday): We prepared for the start of the rally race with the shakedown, a short, designated test stage when competitors check their car’s setup and functionality. We spent the afternoon sightseeing, watching a
harness jump at the 328-meter-high Sky Tower in Auckland’s city center and walking along the harbor. The rally began that evening, but the King Air wasn’t needed because production could be done with local antennas in the short Stage 1 loop.
Over the next four days, we flew nearly 30 hours to ensure the World Rally Championship audience could enjoy live images of all stages during the New Zealand rally. We returned to Belgium on a commercial airliner on Monday because we had almost reached our legal maximum duty period over 28 days. Another two-pilot crew moved the aircraft to Nagoya, Japan – which took just over 30 hours across four days – so that the King Air is ready to go two weeks later for Rally Japan, the final round of 2022’s WRC. KA
Pilots Hendriks and Vanhoof pose with the refueling crew during a ferry flight stop at Ahmedabad, India (VAAH).
pilots outweighs the cost of transferring the aircraft to these remote locations for the client.”
Vanhoof said he’s seen operators use Pilatus PC-12, Piper PA-31 and Britten-Norman BN-2 aircraft for the mission, though most use at least one King Air because of their reliability.
“The King Air is great for this specialized use for a number of reasons,” he said. “You absolutely need an aircraft that can fly 99% of the time. We can fly virtually in any weather condition. The payload handles the broadcast equipment, which tends to be heavy. We can fly up to FL280 – we are non-RVSM so we can’t go to the service ceiling of FL350. Another thing is the autonomy of the aircraft, where we can usually provide six to seven hours of flight time, depending on the weight of the equipment. We can fly it slow when we need to – so our turn radius is small and we can stay close to the motorbikes/cars/helicopters/ ski scooters/sailboats – and fast enough so we can efficiently position the aircraft virtually anywhere in the world.” KA
10 • KING AIR MAGAZINE
FEBRUARY 2025