A tale of two Cessnas :-)

Here are a couple of pictures of recent arrivals at Wellington. The first is a Cessna 150 that has parked outside of the Aero Club. ZK-DOB is registered to a Hamilton address, and has an interesting paint scheme.

The second is a Citation Jet CJ-3 just landing at Wellington and about to taxi to the eastern [main] apron. This CJ-3 [ZK-TBM] is registered to Pacific Jets in Christchurch.

Another C172 online at Wellington Aero Club

Wellington Aero Club has another C172 online for a while. ZK-FLT is a C172N and has been around a few operators in the past 24 or so years in the country, mostly around Ardmore, Tauranga and Palmerston North. I first saw this aircraft when I was flying out of Ardmore a few years ago.

Armee de L'Air CASA CN-235 at Wellington

I spotted a French Air Force [Armee de l'Air] CASA CN-235 at Wellington today. I'm not sure when it arrived, but I did see it leave this morning. This is the second time that I spotted one of these departing Wellington. The first time was a year or so ago, when I mistook it for a Transall C-160 [the two aircraft are fairly similar at first glance].

While it is somewhat smaller then a C130 Hercules [including of 2 engines!], it has a similar configuration to the C130 with a high wing, "mid" tail and a rear loading ramp.

The first picture is of it parking on the RNZAF Air Movements apron at Wellington, the second taxiing and the third, airborne off runway 34.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Merry Christmas to you, your family and your friends!

Thanks for taking the time to visit, to leave comments, and in doing so to provide support and encouragement for me to continue these aviation ramblings.

May you have an enjoyable, restful, refreshing and safe Christmas! I hope to "see" you around here again next year! Merry Christmas particularly to my friends/visitors from Wellington [hello WACers], Auckland [greetings AAC and NSAC] and Hamilton [gidday Waikato Aero Club]!

Cheers,

Rodney
http://www.flying.geek.nz/

P.S.: No, I don't believe in Santa - that should be obvious - but here's a picture of Santa at the North Pole, and perhaps a suggestion as to why global warming would be bad [or good, depending on your particular bent!]

Cross country passenger

I went out to the Aero Club this morning and ended up getting invited along for a cross-country flight as a passenger [Yippee!]. The plan for the flight was Wellington- Paraparaumu [touch and go] -Wanganui [full stop landing]- overhead Waverley- return to Wellington.

It was a good flight, and I managed to get a few photos [of varying quality...], as follows. Top to bottom are:

- Climbing out from Wellington

- Looking towards Wellington Airport / Lyall Bay

- The Hutt Valley [north of Wellington, just north of Avalon]

- Approaching Paraparaumu Airfield

- Kapiti Island [just west of Paraparaumu]

- Approaching Wanganui

- Wanganui Airport apron

- The old Wanganui Control Tower [has not been manned for many years]

- Piper Archer PA28-181 from Air Hawkes Bay visiting Wanganui

Enjoy [I did!]!

Taranaki Community Rescue Helicopter

Now this is a picture that I am particularly happy with [if I do say so myself!]. It is a Taranaki-based rescue helicopter that visited Wellington earlier today. I snapped this as it was departing, and it turned out surprisingly well. I particularly like the illusion of an air-to-air shot with the lack of ground features, even though in reality I was about 3 feet AGL [above ground level] and the helicopter was probably not much more than 150 - 200 feet AGL.

Unfortunately I did not get its registration and so, not being a helicopter buff in any respect, I can't even tell you what type it is [I'm hoping someone can enlighten me... hint... hint...!], much less any other details.

Smaller chopper at Wellington

Just a couple of random pictures of a Hughes 269C at Wellington a couple of weekends ago. This one was only here for a few minutes before departing again.

Piper PA31 Navajo Air Ambulance

A Piper Navajo equiped as an air ambulance visited the Wellington Aero Club for refueling today. After a quick chat with the pilot [who did a bit of instructing at the Aero Club last year], I was given the OK to pop in and have a look. Apparently the aircraft is really good to fly with good, pilot-friendly characteristics.

On another note, it was a stinking hot day today. The ATIS was reporting 27 degrees [Celsius] at one stage, and it was humid. Kinda glad I was not stuck inside an aircraft today :-)

Here's a couple of pictures I snapped while it was here.

Westpac Rescue Helicopter

While assisting with the Aero Club Working Bee [see previous post] today, the Westpac Rescue Helicopter [normally parked a little further down the apron] stopped down our end of the apron for a few minutes. Here are a couple of shots I got as it lifted off and turned to head back to its base.

Aero Club Working Bee

The Aero Club had its annual pre-Christmas working bee today. Apart from the "normal" activities of giving the club house and surrounds a good scrub and clean, we were also able to almost finish the hanger door project.

Today's activities included putting on the door handles [a seemingly small task that makes a big difference!] and replacing the surface of the front of the hanger either side of the doors. Once that was done, the Club's yellow panels with the logo were reattached. It's starting to look a lot smarter now!

Here's a couple of pictures., The first is a little after the work was done, and the second at the end of the day. After this, we all retired to the bar for a drink and BBQ. What an awesome day!

RNZAF C130 Hercules

These are pictures of an RNZAF C130 Hercules that came into and out of Wellington today. Apparently this particular aircraft made at least a couple of visits today, this time coming in VFR [Visual Flight Rules]. The first two pictures are on arrival and the second two on departure a few minutes later.

Are your reaction times any good?

Here's a fun site that allows you to test your reaction times. It's based in Adobe Flash, so you'll need a plugin for this [most browsers have this anyway].

Unfortunately, it's quite addictive!

Sheep Reaction

Leave a comment with your best reaction times!