Cessna 525B Citation Jet CJ3

Here are a couple of pictures of a Cessna CJ3 spotted at Wellington today. ZK-TBM is registered to Pacific Jets Ltd of a Christchurch address. Nice!

More lighties at Wellington

Here are some light aircraft that I spotted at Wellington International Airport today. The first is a Cessna C172R, ZK-JKA. I have previously flown this aircraft when I was living in Auckland at Auckland Aero Club [at Ardmore Aerodrome]. I last flew this aircraft on 23 November 2002. ZK-JKA is currently registered to Air Hawkes Bay.

The next aircraft is ZK-CHM, a Cessna C150D, registered to Sounds Air. It has been parked here for a few days - not sure why - maybe maintenance or something. Following that we have a Cessna C210, ZK-COY, registered to Air West Coast.

Lastly, something a little less usual, is a Beechcraft F33A, ZK-EDS, registered to a Palmerston North address. ZK-EDS appears to be the only one of type [I think that there may be a couple of similar aircraft around] on the New Zealand register at the moment.

Armee De L'Air CASA CN-235 at Wellington

Here are a couple of pictures of an Armee De L'Air Casa CN-235 spotted at the RNZAF Air Movements Base at Wellington earlier today. The French seem to be over here on a fairly regular basis.

Welcome, Royal New Zealand Air Force

The Royal New Zealand Air Force [RNZAF] B757's have been in the USA getting cargo doors and avionic modifications. This is the first time I have seen NZ7571 since its return [RNZAF media release here]. You can see the effect of the large cargo door installation with the front 10 passenger windows removed on the left hand side.

The B757 is the largest aircraft to regularly use Wellington and is an impressive sight whether parked on the Air Movements Base apron or climbing out at significantly steeper attitude to the usual range of civilian aircraft. Enjoy the pictures!

Odds and sods at Wellington

Here are a couple of general pictures from earlier today at Wellington. The first is ZK-ESC, a Beech 77 Skipper from Wellington Flight Training.

The second is a visiting Cessna C172N registered to Ardmore Flying School. Interestingly, this was the first aircraft I took on a cross country flight after I achieved my PPL. I took ZK-EOX from Ardmore to Wanganui and back [with a quick scenic with my parents] on 1 March 2000. This flight was rather memorable for the bad weather [creeping through the Stratford Gap at about 500-700' AGL 6 months after getting a PPL is not as much fun as it might sound :-(].

According to the register, ZK-EOX was initially registered to Air Nelson back in August 1980.

Guess who has come to town?

The weather reports for Wellington for the past few days had been rather variable, so to have a fabulous day this morning was a welcome relief... especially as I had a couple of people to take for a ride. Euan and Susan were visiting from Hamilton ["hi!"], with Euan being another pilot and aviation blogger [click here].

I was doing the flying, so not airborne pictures from me, although I imagine that Euan will have something up soon enough. The flight itself was smooth with a calm day [no more than 8-10 knots at 2000'] and 50km visibility. We received the requested Eastbourne Departure, got a good look at the Lower Hutt area, across to Mana Island then down the coast for a Sinclair Arrival.

The South Island looked fantastic with snow on the mountains and I think everyone enjoyed themselves.

After lunch we ended up back at the airport for Euan and Susan's departure [they'll be touching down in Hamilton as I write this].

Of the pictures I did get, first is a Pa28-181, ZK-EBQ, registered to Southern Wings Ltd in Invercargill. The next is an Air NZ B737, ZK-NGK, about to depart the gate and a Bombardier DHC-8-311, ZK-NER, registered to Air Nelson Ltd [part of the Air New Zealand group].

Another fantastic day in Wellington...

...so good in fact that every Club aircraft was out today over at Omaka. Awesome! I wasn't, but that's OK. With any luck I'll be flying next Saturday. In the brief time I was at the Club I did manage to snap a couple of pictures.

The first is ZK-MUS the Acemus owned Cessna 510 Citation Mustang. ZK-MUS shortly lined up and departed from the Whiskey One holding point [rather than full length]. The second is the Westpac Rescue helicopter arriving back and lastly ZK-MBC, a Piper PA28-161 from Massey Aviation which was to depart to Kaikoura for a visit and perhaps a bit of whale watching.

First Qantas Airbus A380 in New Zealand

Yesterday was a great day for aviation buffs in New Zealand - the first visit of an Airbus A380 from Qantas. Unfortunately, I was not there, but MRC Aviation was and this brief report includes a number of photos.

New Zealand Post Fokker Friendship

Here are two pictures of a New Zealand Post Fokker F27 Friendship departing Wellington. I think that this is the first time I have captured an F27 at Wellington. It was a bit of a fluke seeing this one, as I was only at the airport to see if I could see the Civil Defence warning chopper.

This is a test!

This week New Zealand is having an annual civil defence emergency awareness week. Part of this was the first public test of a highly mobile warning system, designed to provide early warning of impending disaster - particularly a tsunami. The warning system bit refers to the fact that there are a couple of big speakers involved, and the highly mobile is because it is attached to a chopper.

In this case, a Helipro Aerospatiale AS 355 F1, ZK-HYN was doing the deed. Being windy it was a bit hard to hear, but it was definitely loud! Here's the best picture of a bunch of horrible picture :-)

No jumping again today

Today's planned skydive was canned again, due to the weather. I'm likely to re-book after Labour weekend as I still want to do this.

I spent a bit of time at the Wellington Aero Club today and spotted this Hughes 369E, ZK-INM arriving from somewhere in the Malbourough Sounds. This particular aircraft is registered to Alpine Helicopters Ltd in Wanaka.

A quick word about Favicons...

Most visitors to this site should notice that instead of the normal "B"logger icon in the address bar [and tab title], I now have my very own FAVICON, in this case, a light aircraft that I drew myself :-) I know, I'm soooo artistic [not!!].

If any of you are interested in doing this for your own blog, draw yourself a quick picture and go to http://www.iconj.com/generator.php. Easy :-)

No jump today, maybe tomorrow

I think that the title kinda summarises things quite well. It's far far far too windy to contemplate a jump today, so it has been put off until tomorrow [the weather is supposed to improve tomorrow].

In the meantime, here's a link to an interesting page/video sent by a good friend up at North Shore Aero Club [hello Mother Goose!], showing a simulation of 24 hours of world-wide commercial air traffic. While I obviously can't vouch for accuracy, it's still a very interesting view of things.

Click here to view: http://gizmodo.com/5055160/24-hour-air-traffic-around-the-world-blows-minds-eyeballs