Jordan Intl Cargo Ilyushin IL-76MF JY-JID '361' Perth's most exotic visitor for 2012

Photos: Greg Wood 1,2,3, 5   Mark Lynam 4

Jordan International Air Cargo IL-76MF JY-JID '361' msn 203423808 arrived 08.53hrs ex: Bandarainke Intl Airport (VCBI/CMB) Colombo, Sri Lanka as flight 'RJZ361' landing RWY03 full length, then made a right hand turn into taxiway 'Whiskey' for a full stop.

The exotic visitor then remained on that taxiway for refueling and other checks before then repositioning herself for a RWY21 departure, finally rotating off RWY21 at 13.10hrs bound for Melbourne's Tullamarine Airport (YMML) , once again operating as flight 'RJZ361' arrived  at 19.24hrs (AEST).

While operated by JIAC, the parent company is in fact the Royal Jordanian Air Force. The callsign / flight number used today is in fact an RJAF callsign (RJZ). Previous images noted on the internet show the registration JY-JID on the rear fuselage next to the national Jordanian flag. The images taken in Perth today clearly show the side registration has been painted out and replaced with a military serial number 361, the civilian registration is also clearly visible under the aircraft's port wing.

Interestingly the aircraft's hexcode its flying under 076C94, is infact not its correct assigned code, and made life a little more interesting trying to find out what the correct code for this aircraft actually was, thankfully after some sleuthing I can now confirm that its correct code is 742924 for all the SBS users in Australia and around the world who follow this blog.

This was the catch of the year!