Wellington visitors today

There were not too many visitors in Wellington today... probably the combination of the poor weather [no flying at the club] and it being the ANZAC Day holiday. Check out this Government website for an excellent introduction/ guide to ANZAC day.

I did however note a Eurocopter EC130 B4, ZK-HKX. This is registered to Advanced Flight Limited and arrived to refuel and pick up some passengers.

Also this Royal Australian Air Force Canadair CL600-2b16 Challenger 604, registration A37-002. Pictures are landing then taxiing.

On a final, sad note, an RNZAF Iroquois UH1H crashed earlier today with the loss of three crew and with one survivor. I don't intend to engage in speculation as to the cause, we can leave that to the experts. This is a link to NZ Defence Force media releases here.

Cessna 152 and two new PPLs

Visitor-wise it was a quiet Saturday today, with just this Cessna 152, ZK-FCQ, registered to Helipro Aviation Training Ltd of Paraparaumu visting the Club for a short time.

Good news though are two new PPLs with Raynesh and Jelle passing their flight tests today. I have a couple of funny photos of "Raydog", but I know better than to publish them [I'll send them to the Club?!] :-)

Congrats gentlemen!

What a busy day!

What a busy day today! After getting out to the aero club around midday, I got in 3 Young Eagles flights with 3 passengers on each flight. Two of the flights were up to the Hutt Valley and the third to the south-west coastline.

After that, I took 3 club members [students] on a ride over to Omaka where a number of other club members were having some fun with competitions. On arrival, I realised that I had left my camera back in Wellington [DOH!] so no photos, but fun none-the-less.

All of these flights were in Cessna 172 ZK-FLT.

It was a perfect day for flying - hardly a bump anywhere, although the wind changed quite a bit. The first YE flight took off on runway 34 with a landing 0.4 hours later on runway 16. For the trip to Omaka we took off and landed back again on runway 16, although only just, with a change of runway about a minute later [seems that some Boeing pilots are not keen on 10 knot tailwinds... and understandably so I suppose].

All in all, a fun day of flying. 1.4 hours with the Young Eagles, 1.3 to Omaka and back.

Just a shame about the lack of a camera :-(

Viking Dragonfly

Today's pictures are of a Viking Dragonfly, ZK-PJM, parked up outside the aero club earlier today.

I had never seen one of these aircraft before, although according the internet sources, it is based on the Rutan Quickie design, which seems to make sense.

This particular aircraft is registered to a Christchurch address and has been on the registered since 1992, which makes it a fairly long-lasting amateur built aircraft, and one that looks to be in great condition.

Redbull, glider formation flying and a stuntman!

OK, here's something a little different that could perhaps be sponsored only by Redbull!

This is a video of two gliders doing formation flying, while one of the crew hops out, slides along a wind, climbs down on to the second glider, has his feet on one and hands on the other glider, before jumping an opening his chute.

I know. It's an odd one, and spectacular to boot! This was filmed in Austria, so the commentary is in German, but you don't really need a commentary. Enjoy!!

Omaka Trip # 2

Following on from my last post, here are the remainder of the pictures from Omaka. Top to bottom are:

de Havilland DH-82A Tiger Moth, ZK-BER, Omaka Real Flying Club
[actually, I liked the background a lot - the aircraft is a bit distant]
Bell 206B, ZK-HTA, Marlborough Helicopters Ltd
Piper PA28-151, ZK-EBH, Massey University School of Aviation
NZ Aerospace FU24-950 Fletcher, ZK-DDX, Aerial Sowing Ltd
Grob Twin Astir, ZK-GTU, Marlborough Gliding Club
Sign in the Marlborough Aero Club hanger :-)



P.S. A HUGE thanks to Craig for getting my camera back today after I left it in the hanger :-)

Omaka Trip # 1

I was planning to do a bit of strip training on Sunday, but unfortunately weather and planning conspired to prevent that from happenning.

It was good enough to go flying though, and despite 20-30 knots on the ground, with a reasonably strong north-west flow upstairs, we jumped in our Cessna 172 [ZK-ETK] and headed off to Omaka. Omaka is west of Wellington and so it was a slow trip there, but fairly quick on the way back.

Once at Omaka I pulled off a fairly good landing and parked up at the aero club.

Photos from the flight [next post will contain more] are:

Cessna 172N, ZK-ETK, Wellington Aero Club
Cessna 172S, ZK-SAN, Soundsair Ltd
[this is the same aircraft I used for my Avskills strip flying course back in January. Click here.]
Robinson R44, ZK-HDD, Skyline Helicopters Ltd
Cessna 150D, ZK-CHM, Soundsair Ltd
Piper PA38-112 Tomahawk, ZK-EIY, registered to a Blenheim address
Piper PA18A-150 Super Cub, ZK-ERB, Marlborough Aero Club

USAF C-40 [B737-700] at Wellington

A special visitor seen on Sunday is this USAF C-40, aka Boeing B737-700.

The aircraft is still parked up on the RNZAF Air Movements apron. I have no idea of which VIP is visiting. Note all the extra "lumps and bumps", especially on the top of the fuselage.



PS: Thanks to ZKARJ for the updates!

The Archer and the Cutlass

No, it's not the title of a b-grade middle-ages era war movie [... although it could be ...], but two aircraft that were in Wellington at the club earlier today. The first is a Piper PA28-181 Archer, ZK-FHQ which is back in Wellington after a few months, including some repairs [when something ran into it in Hamilton] and a slight upgrade in the cockpit.

The second is a visiting Cessna 172RG, ZK-NAC, which is registered to a Air New Zealand Sports and Social Club in Christchurch. New Zealand aviation buffs will understand why that is quite a relevant registration.

A Grumman and a Cessna

Here are pictures of two aircraft that were at Wellington last weekend. The first is a Grumman American AA-5A, ZK-DLL. I included 3 pictures as it's areally well presented machine, and there are not many of them in New Zealand.

I still have fond memories flying the smaller AA-1C at Auckland Aero Club from a few years ago :-)

The second aircraft is a Cessna 152, ZK-ZGR, and is registered to Nelson Aviation College.

Andrew's photos from the W(h)anganui trip

After yesterday's flight, Andrew has uploaded his photos to Picasa. Click here to have a look at them.

You'll see photos of most of the trip, including Wellington, Foxpine, Paraparaumu and Wanganui airports, Raumai and much more. Enjoy!

Flight to Wanganui

Today I took a quick flying trip to Wanganui [NZWU] in Cessna 172N ZK-FLT. There was no major reason, except to go flying and to see my folks. Andrew from the Club came along for the ride.

We had a decent amount of wind in Wellington [what a surprise! :-)], but north of about Paraparaumu [NZPP], the wind settled down to a gentle westerly. The trip back included an approach and overshoot at Foxpine [NZFP]. Timing was 1.3 to Wanganui and 1.1 back to Wellington.

The best quote from the day came on the way back, as we started to hit some gentle turbulence: An aircraft may not know when it is over water, but it sure knows when it is near Wellington!

The three pictures are from Wanganui Airport. Top to bottom are ZK-FLT, the airport terminal and an Eagle Air 1900D parked up and the old Wanganui Control Tower [unused for many years].