Vincent Aviation Dash 8 in the Solomon Islands

[zkvac]

VAC has gone up to the Solomons for a few months to operate flights for the National carrier there while their Twin Otters undergo maintenance. Solomon Airlines are using this opportunity to trial a larger aircraft on some of their routes which is why VAC went up. Dad came back last night so he could come on part of our family holiday to Lake Taupo and he'll be going back up on Tuesday so I have a few pics that I can post that he took while up there. Unfortunately there aren't many of actual flying as he wanted to wait until the weather got better and the pilots were more used to the shorter coral airstrips before he took many more, so I should have lots more to post when he arrives back again in early March. From what I've heard the Dash 8 is going well up there, and the short island strips and basic facilities pose a bit more of a challenge than NZ airports, but are well within the Dash 8's capabilities with its good STOL performance (Yesterday they stopped within the first 400m (less than half the total length) of the airstrip at Gizo using only reverse pitch (if brakes are used the aircraft just skids) with a load of 20 passengers + baggage. Not bad). By the way, that's mud splattered up the fuselage, not stone chips!

Here are the pics:
















Hope you enjoyed them

[Obmit]

Nice pics.

[Vamerica]

looks like Cargo is big on those islands, well for an island

[zkvac]

Yep. Those were dolphins going into the A310 in case anyone was wondering

[blumage]

sounds like family business is doing great!!!

[AirHanoverInternational]

Great shots!

[HelenJames]

I think this topic was already mentioned at this forum