▼

Monday, February 11, 2008

Now let's not be jealous lads...!

I've got a couple of days leave from work. Yippee! I was in the car coming back to Wellington earlier today, driving past Ohakea Airbase whn I saw something that got me very excited! A small jet appeared to be doing circuits!

Who could this be?

Maybe the Aussies have come over for a visit?

After getting the driver [my little sister visiting from England] to drive over to the viewing area, it did not take long to work out what was happenning. It had a Kiwi on the fuselage! Wow! Now this is a sight that I had not expected to see often, if at all, again!

It was two Aermacchi MB339CB aircraft buzzing the circuit doing touch-and-goes and various approaches and overshoots! Awesome! Yet another benefit of getting a couple of days of work!

Unfortunately my camera does not have an adequate lens to bring the aircraft up close and I was not able to do justice to what I saw. However, here are a few shots that I did manage to get.

RNZAF Aermacchi MB339CBRNZAF Aermacchi MB339CBRNZAF Aermacchi MB339CBRNZAF Aermacchi MB339CBRNZAF Aermacchi MB339CB
at

6 comments:

  1. Flyinkiwi12 February 2008 at 14:32

    I read somewhere that they are keeping some pilots current in them for some reason which escapes me. Still, I'd love to go up in one for a blat.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Rodney13 February 2008 at 18:26

    No munitions under the wings... :-(

    ReplyDelete
  3. Flyinkiwi29 February 2008 at 10:35

    As an aside I was talking to SQNLDR Jim Rankin at the recent CAA Safety Seminar. He's one of the lucky buggers who gets to take the Maachi's up from time to time. He mentioned the fleet is still very young, with the highest timed aircraft only having a couple of thousand hours on it. Of course I asked him to take me for a ride in it but sadly they don't do joyrides for civvies.

    I reckon if they offered a ride in the back of one to all service personnel who request it they'd get a lot more enlistments. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Rodney29 February 2008 at 13:07

    Of course you asked! :-)

    Speaking of Maachis... I'm probably going to the RNZAF airshow on Sunday 16 March. You should come down also. You can fly in to NZOH is you want - I'll probably drive up.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Flyinkiwi6 March 2008 at 08:55

    Money's a bit tight right now, but might plan to go to the next Whenuapai Open Day they have.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Rodney6 March 2008 at 11:41

    Fair enough... I should be able to get plenty of pictures anyway [assuming it's not rained out or similar]

    ReplyDelete