Nice find, although that FlightAware image of a helicopter is an...

Nice find, although that FlightAware image of a helicopter is an old database photo for a helicopter once registered as VH-EPX. Aircraft registrations get reused and recycled allot; and the photo databases some of the tracking websites rely on for stock photos, can be well out of date.

Below is what VH-EPX actually looks like.



Side Note: Tracking survey aircraft on public sites can be hit & miss. There was a time where emphasis was placed to keep survey aircraft registrations anonymous on public sites for competitive reasons.

The first sites to capitalize flight tracking were Flight Radar 24 & Flight Aware, and when it was beneficial; aircraft owners could pay a fee to flag their aircraft registrations as 'anonymous' on the websites, eg, you can see the plane, but can't trace the rego. The next step up from that was to flag the aircraft as 'invisible', and certain police forces & government agencies that use civil registered aircraft, can choose to completely hide their airborne activity.

However, the source data to track is practically open source, and the receivers are cheap to buy (and make). As more websites popped up with ADSB tracking networks, the effort to control anonymity became a whack-a-mole affair, and unfiltered the information can be found on other less well known sites that come and go.

And so there's probably less emphasis now on survey aircraft having their regos hidden, versus a few years ago.

For a rundown of AMX owned aircraft, search the CASA register by Aerometrex as owner, eg:

.https://www.casa.gov.au/search-centre/aircraft-register?search_api_fulltext=Aerometrex&field_tx_aircraft_manufacturer=&field_tx_aircraft_model=&field_serial=&field_dt_first_registered_1%5Bmin%5D=&field_dt_first_registered_1%5Bmax%5D=&field_year_of_manufacture=&sort_by=title&sort_order=ASC

Not all survey providers and their aircraft can be traced so easily, though.

Many, like NearMap, don't own their aircraft or operate under their own Air Operators Certificate, and so if you were to search NearMap in the CASA register, you'll probably get no hits.

To mix it up even more, even AMX are known to lease third party aircraft from time to time, and just to add a bit more spice, some of these third party aircraft are leased quite freely between survey firms like AAM, fugro, or anyone else who might have a specific survey need.