More low flying comp practice... constant radius eggs :-) are still going well!

Another day, more weather better than forecast :-) Like yesterday I took the Club's Cessna 172 up for a run through of the low flying manoeuvres for Flying NZ nationals. This time I had Amy and Ben along for the ride and so made sure that I was well above 500' AGL all the time.

It mostly went well. My left turns are quite good, although my right turns need a little more work. In particular my right-hand constant radius turns come our closer to "egg" shaped than round :-(, so a lot more work to do there.

One big plus from the flight was that Ben was videoing the various turns and stuff which will be useful. I'm not going to bore you with all of it, so here's the first two minutes from takeoff. Enjoy!

Low flying competition practice and a video

Today I got to go out and practice the manoeuvres for a Flying NZ nationals low flying competition coming up next month. The weather was not ideal in the area around our low flying zone, so I stayed a bit higher and practiced at another location. This was followed by some circuits. The short story is that I need to do a lot more practice :-)

I'm hoping to record one or two of the practice flights, but I need to get a decent mounting kit for the recorder [it will need to be a suction mount so I can mount it on a window]. If I do get this sorted, I'll be sure to post some video.

In other news, a decent video of landings at Wellington on a wild weather day has been produced and released by Airside TV. This is much better than some other Youtube videos - still one is all Wellington and decent resolution. You can see the Airside TV channel here, or watch the one of the videos below. Enjoy!

Excellent news, more flying and an exotic visitor

There are three topics in this post. First up is some excellent news with the arrival of a Piper PA28-161 Warrior, ZK-MBG to the Club. The current registered owner is still Massey University, but it'll be operated by the Aero Club in about a week. Those of us who have been awaiting a 4 seat Piper for some time will be excited about this, even though I enjoy flying the Club's Cessna 172, ZK-FLT.

Speaking of the Cessna, that's a nice segue into the more flying bit, as I went up for a dual flight in the C172 to practice my low flying. I'm a wee bit rusty [I haven't flown for something like 6-8 weeks], but it was all safe enough. I'll be better next weekend when I go up again.

Lastly for the exotic visitor bit. Arriving today was this Israel Aircraft Industries Gulfstream G200, N533GA. FAA records have this registered to Wells Fargo Bank Northwest NA Trustee, although I'm not sure if this has any relationship to the actual operator. The picture shows it parked outside of the Execujet hanger at Wellington airport.

A wee bit too windy again

Today dawned clear but still far too windy for any flying in the Club's light aircraft, with up to 22 knots of crosswind component. So much for my planned flight. Here's hoping for next weekend!

A number of the photos take today show this. Apologies for the first one - wrong ISO setting on the camera.... Top to bottom are:

Beech 1900D, ZK-EAC, Eagle Airways Ltd [part of the Air NZ group]

Boeing 737-838, ZK-ZQD, registered to Jetconnect [part of the Qantas group]

Bombardier DHC-8-311, ZK-NEU, registered to Air Nelson Ltd [part of the Air NZ group]

KFC, KFB and JLY

After yesterday's wild and windy weather with high winds and low clouds, today dawned substantially clearer. The wind was still too "lumpy" for the light aircraft but the heavier stuff was having much less trouble.

The title of this post pretty much covers the day. KFC for lunch :-), Gulfstream GV-SP, ZK-KFB, registered to Execujet NZ [but think "Peter Jackson"] and a Cessna 172R, ZK-JLY, registered to CTC Aviation parked in the Aero Club hanger.

No pictures of lunch [!], but the two aircraft follow.

Not so nice today....

It is supposed to be mid summer here in New Zealand, but at the moment, it looks a bit like mid winter. OK, the temperature is a bit nicer [around the 15 deg Celsius mark], but it's windy and wet and "broken" (7/8ths) cloud at about 400 feet.

I popped down to the aero club for a short time. No flying of course, but I did get to see some of the Air NZ and Jetstar/ Qantas aircraft doing their thing. What follows are a few photos.

Note the take-off distances. The Jetstar A320 and the white/ blue Air NZ B737 get airborne on runway 16 before holding point Mike 4, so around 800 meters from the threshold. The All Black Air NZ A320 is off between Mike 4 and Mike 5, at around about 900 meters.

Aircraft are:

Airbus A320-232, VH-VGU, registered to Jetstar Airways
Boeing 737-33A, ZK-NGR, registered to Air New Zealand
Airbus A320-232, ZK-OAB, registered to Air New Zealand

Air New Plymouth Piper Navajo

Another visitor to Wellington today was this Piper PA31 Navajo, ZK-MJF, registered to New Plymouth Aero Club/ Air New Plymouth, and operated as an air ambulance.

Just the one photo, as I was busy looking at the USAF/ ANG C40C :-)

USAF/ Air National Guard C40C/ B737 at Wellington

I got a bit of a surprise arriving at the aero club today, when I saw a strange white tail sitting on the Air Force apron. Turns out it was a USAF/ Air National Guard C40C [Boeing 737-7CP], registration 02-0201 ready to leave. Nice!

I'm not sure who was on board [various names have been mentioned, but I'm not going to add to the speculation].

Note what appears to be a sensor on the nose and the picture on the winglets.

Chathams Pacific Douglas DC3

Late last year a colleague sent me some photos of the Chathams Pacific Douglas DC3, A3-AWP. I had forgotten about them until now [!], although I guess it's good timing after my previous post about Air Chathams.

Chathams Pacific is Tonga's domestic airline, and is owned by/ part of Air Chathams. Chathams Pacific have a number of aircraft, although the most interesting for me are the Convair and a DC3 [as pictured below]. The DC3 appears to be a fine example... there are even some pictures from the restoration of the Chathams Pacific website! Maybe I should plan a holiday there one day soon... do a bit of sightseeing :-)

Enjoy!

 

Air Chathams Convair 440/580

A very special visitor today was this General Dynamics Allison Convair 440/580, ZK-CIE, registered to Air Chathams. This aircraft is on a charter tour of New Zealand and is parked outside of the aero club for a day or so. It is really good to see some of these older aircraft still earning their keep on a daily basis.

As an aside - the weather is [temporarily] back to being great :-)

New year visitors

Finally the weather settled down today, long enough for a few flights at the aero club today [although, unfortunately not for me].

Just a couple of visitors noted, the first being a Cessna 510 Citation Mustang, ZK-PGA, registered to Pacific Jets of Christchurch. The second was a Piper PA38-112 Tomahawk, ZK-EVC, registered to Marlborough Aero Club.

Back in Wellington... Qantas, Jetstar and Vincents

After a quick trip away for the Christmas break, I arrived back in Wellington yesterday afternoon. This afternoon I popped out to the aero club for a nosey. Aircraft seen today are are follows:

Boeing 737-838, ZK-ZQC, registered to Jetconnect [a Qantas subsidiary]
Airbus A320-232, VH-VGT, registered to Jetstar Airways [also a Qantas subsidiary]
2x British Aerospace BAe 146 Series 200, ZK-ECO, registered to Vincent Aviation

Piper Senecas

Today's pictures are a couple of Piper PA34-220T Senecas. ZK-BJM is registered to Ridge Air Ltd of Blenheim and ZK-ZAG is registered to Golden Bay Air of Takaka.

Wellington City harbour and the Club hanger

I got to go for a ride as a passenger today for a few circuits with another club member. It is always nice to be able to sit back and relax while someone else does the flying bit :-)

Below are a couple of photos. The first is one of the "new" Club hanger. For those of you who know Lyall Bay shopping centre, you'll know exactly where this is with the bright red Warehouse in the background. If you are in the area, come along and say "hi". If you want to see what flying is like, ask at the desk for a trial flight [also a great Christmas present!].

The second is a nice picture of the city and harbour area. As you can see from the water, there is very little wind with some nice cloud cover to keep things a little cooler. A great day to go flying :-)

Enjoy!

I'm stumped! It's a mystery! What sort of plane is this?

Update: Time corrected to 12:21pm (my camera clock was not adjusted for daylight savings!)... and Cessna C525B, ZK-TBM was flying NZNR to NZQN at this time, so that fits. Thanks everyone for the updates on Twitter, Oz-spotters list and here!

Yep, it's true. I've photographed a plane and I have no idea what type it is! If anyone has any ideas, I'd love to hear them. This aircraft went over head Wellington [or just north of] at about 12:21pm this morning [Saturday 10 December]. We only noticed it because of the condensation trail behind it which was well formed, indicating low winds at altitude.

It appears to be a twin engined aircraft with a straight leading edge [so, not a Boeing or Airbus of any sort that I can tell] and probably at least 30,000 feet, possibly/ probably higher. The wings look quiet large compared to the body also, and it might have rear-mounted engines. Perhaps a business jet of some description?

Unfortunately, the plane being a stolen American surveillance drone being operated by the Iranians who are spying on us has already been suggested... no points for that one! [Iranians Capture US Spy Drone?] However, if you really believe it was the Iranians, then please send a stamped, self-addressed envelope to me with $50 cash and I'll send you a tin-foil hat. My address is... ummm... errrrr...... ok, just email me the cash :-)

Here's the picture. It's a bit fuzzy, but it's the clearest resolution I could do.

Today's larger aircraft

In the post are a few of the larger aircraft I spotted today. First and foremost is the latest Air NZ Airbus A320-232, ZK-OJR, which like ZK-OAB is in the All Blacks paint scheme. Nice!

For comparison is another Air NZ A320-232, ZK-OJG.

Other aircraft are Qantas/ Jetconnect Boeing 737-838, ZK-ZQE, Virgin Australia Airlines/ Pacific Blue Boeing 737-8FE, ZK-PBI, and finally Vincent Aviation-operated British Aerospace BAe 146 Series 200, ZK-ECO.

Enjoy!

A couple of light aircraft at Wellington

Here are photos of a couple of light aircraft which visited Wellington today.

The first two aircraft [3 photos] are Diamond DA40 aircraft, ZK-MTC and ZK-MTK, both registered to Massey University School of Aviation.

The final picture is a Sounds Air Cessna 208, ZK-TZR taking off.

USAF Gulfstream at Wellington

Today on the RNZAF Air Movements apron was this US Air Force Gulfstream C37A, 97-0401. A few more details are on the MRC Aviation blog.

Air NZ introduces "seat only" flight option to domestic flights

After flagging this as a possibility just a few days ago, Air New Zealand has introduced the seats to suit option to its domestic fares. No real fanfare so far, although there has been the odd hyped up headline, such as Air New Zealand slashes domestic fares [I'm not sure that an average of 6% drop is "slashing"], but never mind. The Australian Business Traveller possibly has the most appropriate headline with Air New Zealand goes low-cost carrier with "seat only" domestic fares. Still, it's not all bad - actually, I think it is a good move.

However, after some comparisons a few days ago for flights in February 2012, I thought I would take a look and see what the fare difference is now. I know that this is not scientific - it's an extremely small [single day] check - but unfortunately, Air New Zealand's cheapest fares [now without checked luggage] are the same price as they were, and so Jetstar is now $20 a sector cheaper, likewise when you add the checked baggage option [the fully flexible fares from both operators are the same price]! I guess time will tell what comes of this - Air NZ is a good operator and I'm sure they will be very competitive.

It will be interesting to know how Air NZ will go about enforcing the 7kg weight and size limits for cabin baggage - this could be a real source of frustration for passengers. Also, with their smallest aircraft [the B1900D] having no overhead lockers and limited under-seat space [not to mention ATR72-600's coming on line over the next couple or so years], I can't help wondering if the B1900's will have a limited future lifespan... too early for predictions from me though!

A quiet day

Just one aircraft photo today, a Piper PA28-181, ZK-LJE, registered to Canterbury Aero Club. Apart from that, I spent much of the afternoon helping to shift "stuff" out of the old Club building. Anyway, here's the photo.

A busy day at the Aero Club

It was another lovely weather day in Wellington and so the Aero Club was busy all day. Awesome! I got to go flying, with a flight out to our local Low Flying Zone for a bit of practice. I didn't do too bad, although I will improve with a bit more practice.

I saw a some "new" aircraft today. First up is the Club's new Cessna A152, ZK-ETS. This is the first time we have had a basic aerobatic trainer in some time, and is a welcome addition to the fleet. Hopefully it is here to stay for a while.

Second is another Cessna, a Reims/ Cessna F406, ZK-CEC, registered to Air Charter East Coast of Gisborne. Lastly is a Hughes 369D, ZK-HRF, registered to Precision Helicopters of an Urenui address.