Piper Seneca from Nelson

With today's dodgy weather there was not much happening [aside from the regular air transport flights] at Wellington today. I did get this photo of a Piper PA34-200T Seneca, ZK-JDH. This aircraft is registered to Nelson Aviation College [based in Motueka].

The good news is that if the weather holds up, I've got a bit of a cross-country mission being planned for next weekend. More details later, but hopefully it involves Lake Station and Motueka.

RNZAF and a Gyrocopter

The weather has been fairly rough the last few days, and it looks like more of the same for the next week or so. Today we have low cloud, rain, reduced visibility and wind. No flying for me.

I managed to get two photos of interesting aircraft. The first is an RNZAF B200, registration NZ1883 arriving at Wellington. The other was a big surprise, as it appears one of the other hangers has a gyrocopter in it! ZK-MWR is a Magni Gyro M-24, and is registered to a Wellington address. It appears that the registration letters are the owner's initials.

Hopefully the weather clears so that I can go for a flight next Sunday afternoon!

Two Pipers and Three Engines

I didn't get up to much this weekend. I was planning on flying to D'Urville Island but that did not eventuate. A couple of visitors though were these two Pipers.

The first is Piper PA28-161 Warrior, ZK-MBE, all wrapped up against the expected bad weather for the next few days. Until late last year this aircraft was registered to Massey University but with their change of fleet, the aircraft appears to have been sold. It still resides in Palmerston North.

The second is Piper PA31 Navajo, ZK-JGA, registered to Air Manawatu. I believe that it was being used as an air ambulance today.

So much ignorance, so VERY funny!

You have to take a listen to this! So much ignorance and yet such a funny recording! Apparantly the Australian Government is delibrately poisoning the inhabitants of Melbourne [or at least standing by and allowing Qantas to do it. YEAH RIGHT!

Click Here: "White Stripe" audio recording

In some ways, Rob Muldoon might have had a point [I'm not explaining that - and sorry if you're offended], but then I suspect that there are many paranoid/ delusional/ ignorant people over this side of the ditch [and around the world] who might believe this also... ha ha ha ha ha ha

A local flight

I was not planning on going for a flight today, but another club member, Andrew turned up with the intention of a flight in Piper PA28-181 Archer, ZK-TDJ. I was keen to get off the ground and so it wasn't long before I was a passenger on a local scenic flight [thanks Andrew].

Many of the photos were a bit ordinary, but here are some of the better ones.

Top to bottom are looking north up the Hutt Valley, Andrew's new GPS screen, looking through a valley to some light rain, final approach into Wellington runway 34 and the GPS track.

Enjoy!

A incident at Wellington earlier today

There was a small incident at Wellington International Airport earlier today. I arrived at the club to see a Mount Cook Airline [part of the Air New Zealand group] parked on the runway with one engine shutdown and airport fire responding.

Initial reports indicate that the crew received an engine fire indication on the approach. There was no sign of fire evident as the aircraft waiting on the runway, and it was soon taxiing back to the gate with the approximately 60 passengers on board.

Airport fire spent some time cleaning up some liquid left on the runway [from the extinguisher???], and the airport was effectively closed for about 35/40 minutes with resultant diversions and a couple of lighties [including one from the aero club] held in the air.

What follow are a few pictures. If you look close you'll see that the right hand engine is feathered.

More flying and more visitors

Today was another grey day, but certainly better than yesterday. There was much less wind today, and so after yesterday's lumpy circuits, I went for a few more today, and it all went much much better :-). Again, the aircraft was Piper PA38-112 Tomahawk, ZK-JNE.

Bombardier Learjet LJ45, VH-CXJ departed Wellington today after an overnight stop. I presume it was heading back to Australia.

Piper PA28-161 Warrior, ZK-MND arrived and left today back to its home airfield in Rangiora.

Lastly, there is a picture of Air New Zealand Boeing 737-300, ZK-NGK, landing.

Tommy, the Duchess and the Learjet

It was an interesting day at Wellington today. It was a bit grey and gloomy due to cloud but this was high enough that it was not a problem for flying. Biggest issue with the wind. Strangely, it was [almost] straight down the runway and only 18 knots, but still quite lumpy all the way around the circuit.

It probably did not help that I was flying a PA38-112 Tomahawk, ZK-JNE for the first time in a long time... :-) There is something to be said for currency.

There were two visitors of note today. The first was Beechcraft BE76 Duchess, ZK-JED. This aircraft is registered to Ardmore Flying School. The second was a Learjet 45, VH-CXJ with CMS/ Air Ambulance/ A division of the Careflight Group Queensland on the sides. This aircraft appears to have had an interesting history, including being used by Cathay Pacific Airways for aircrew training.

Photos of these three aircraft follow:

Something a little [lot] bit different!

OK, here's one to tickle your synapses and niggle your neurons... and hopefully you can give me an answer!

It's an old photo of a Yeti Airlines aircraft taking off. Just to make things interesting, the photographer managed to get the baggage in focus, but the aircraft [in the center of the frame no less!!] is well out of focus. No, I did not take the photo! :-)

The rear of the photograph had the inscription "Plane is taking off at Paphlu Airstrip near Katmandu" [sic]. The photo is undated, but is from several years ago.

It looks to me to be a DHC-6 Twin Otter, but clearly the registration is somewhat difficult to read. :-)

Can you provide any more details on this aircraft or the operations of Yeti Airlines? Current aircraft [according to their website] appears to be a Jetstream J41.

Invasion of Auckland Aero Club aircraft!

After thinking it was going to be a quiet day for visitors, there was a pleasant surprise in store as three aircraft from Auckland Aero Club turned up.

The first was Partenavia P68C, ZK-SMB. This aircraft was flown by "Captain Jase" and one of his students. The second was Cessna 172N, ZK-JAZ. The last was another Cessna, C172SP ZK-JRA.

The occupants of these aircraft were originally going to visit Queenstown, but when that didn't work out, it was a trip to various places at the top of the South Island, such as Karamea, Omaka, Nelson and the like.

I was especially pleased to see these aircraft as I flew from Auckland Aero Club for several years, including a 3 year period where I was Club Captain. I have flown ZK-JAZ and ZK-JRA myself - in fact I first flew ZK-JRA when it was brand spanking new with around 30 hours on the clock.

First picture is of Captain Jase and his student, followed by the Partenavia then the Cessnas.

Heavier metal at Wellington

For a while, it was looking like a typically quiet weekend at Wellington, so I took some photos of some of the larger aircraft to regularly use Wellington.

First are two pictures of an Air New Zealand Boeing 737-300, ZK-NGH taking off. Following this are two photos of a Jetstar Airbus A320, VH-VQE.

As it turned out some visitors did arrive a little later in the day, but that can wait until the next post :-)

Enjoy the photos!

A day flying is [almost] always better than a day of the ground ...

... especially when the day was as perfect as today!

After the rubbish weather of the past few days, today was one of those perfect autumn days that make you glad that you booked an aircraft :-). Today I took up Cessna 172N ZK-FLT to the southern Wairarapa area for a bit of revision/ practice flying. This consisted of some climbing turns, stalls, a simulated FLWOP [Forced Landing With Out Power] and a healthy dose of low flying in our expansive low flying area.

There was hardly a breath of wind, and absolutely no traffic delays - I called ready to line up and was cleared onto the runway straight away. Coming back was similar with no delay. All in all, a fantastic hour in the air.

Pictures are of Cessna 172N ZK-FLT [this was another flight today] and Cirrus SR22, ZK-YUG.