A trip to Masterton and back

Much like yesterday I was not expecting to get up to anything today. After a lazy start, I got out to the club with the intention of sitting around. Like yesterday, I ended up being offered another ferry flight, this time to take a Piper PA38-112 Tomahawk, ZK-FML, up to Masterton [NZMS].

After confirming that I had a ride back :-) I set off in the bright sunshine to Masterton. It was a quick trip there I got to tie down the aircraft and wait for the club's Cessna 172 [ZK-FLT] to arrive to take me back.

The trip back was fairly uneventful and, as a passenger, it was another good chance to pull out the camera and get a few snaps, and to try out the basic video on my new Android powered phone.

Top to bottom, the photos are the towns of Carterton, Greytown and Featherston [with Lake Wairarapa in the background], then, wait for this mouthful... the Tauherenikau River. The final photo is a visiting Cessna 180, ZK-BDD, registered to a Blenheim address.

The video is from right-base for runway 34 at Wellington, at the end of the flight.

Another awesome day, temporarily detached from the ground :-)

"Highest Duty"/ Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger

One of my Christmas gifts [another was a cookbook!] was Highest Duty, My search for what really matters, a book written by Chesley "Sully" Sullenburger of Cactus 1549/ US Airways A320 into the Hudson River fame.

I was expecting to get Sully's viewpoint of the ditching and the book contained that, but in a sense that was only a small part of the book. This is more an autobiography of one persons life growing up in Texas, through to his military and civilian flying, then after the event. The book covers a lot of his family life and is a very interesting insight into his "make up". It is an awesome read and I think it will appeal to non-aviation types almost as much aviation types like myself.

The book should be available on line and from any decent bookstore. Go buy it and read it! I know you'll be impressed.

Pax, spot, meet, pax and PiC

As is often the case, I wasn't planning on doing much today except to lounge around at the club and tell a few tall stories [I left that to the others today :-) - hi guys!]... but on arrival I was offered a chance to play "passenger" for a few circuits with Rochelle in a Cessna 182, ZK-MRH [Thanks Rochelle]. That was a bit of fun. I never get sick of being a passenger in a light aircraft - it's a great way to watch the world go by, even if it's the same bit of world 3 times around the circuit.

While at the airport I saw a Dassault-Breguet Mystere Falcon 900. N693SH is owned by a leasing company in Los Angeles, and I have no idea why it is here, but it looks awesome :-)

While relaxing after the C182 flight, Sir Minty from the NZ Civil Aircraft blog popped in and I got to meet another blogger for the first time. If you haven't been to NZ Civil Aircraft, it's well worth the visit. The blog has contributors from around the country and there's always something new appearing.

Mid afternoon I was asked if I could go to Paraparaumu [NZPP] to help pick up a couple of Piper PA38-112 Tomahawks out of maintenance. It didn't take long to say Yes,thanks and shortly after that I was off to NZPP in the back of a PA28 with a couple of instructors up the front. They did a good job of pretending to know how to fly the aircraft :-). Arriving at NZPP, it was a good preflight [there's nothing like getting an aircraft out of maintenance to make you check it out even better than normal!], then a quick flight back to Wellington in ZK-TAW. All in all, a fun day!

Pictures today are:

Very short final for runway 34 in Cessna 182, ZK-MRH

The panel of ZK-MRH

Dassault-Breguet Mystere Falcon 900, N693SH

Instructors making it happen :-)

Final pre-Christmas post from Wellington

Well, it's Christmas Eve, and we were let out of work a little earlier today, so I popped down to the Aero Club for a short time. It has been a windy day, and worse still, there's been up to 28 knots crosswind reported on the ATIS. No flying for the Club today!

Getting roped in to check on some aircraft in our "new" hanger meant a chance to get some photos while I was there.

Top to bottom are:

Eagle Air/ Air NZ Beech 1900D, ZK-EAC showing how to land in a crosswind...!

Mount Cook Airline/ Air NZ Aerospatiale ATR72, demonstrating the cross wind at low level

Air New Zealand Boeing 737, ZK-NGG taking off

Air Nelson/ Air NZ Bombardier, ZK-NFB taking off

Merry Christmas everyone!

Merry Christmas, my friends!

Here we are again... another year almost over, and another about to begin. Than you for all your comments and support over the past 12 months, and here's to the next year!

I was looking for something particularly "Christmasy" for this post, and I think I have found what I was after - Christmas, Peace and Aeroplanes :-) I hope you enjoy this old favourite!

Finally, a Kiwi version of an old favourite Christmas carol. Well, sort of! Merry Christmas!

Today's flight in a Cirrus

Today I got to go up in a Cirrus SR22 [ZK-YUG] for a quick flight over the city. My part was to take some photos of various buildings. The flight itself was fun and as it was my first flight in an SR22 I was looking forward to seeing how well it performed - no disappointment there :-) Actually, if anyone wants to buy me one for Christmas... :-)

Anyway, here are a couple of photos. The first is a picture of the aircraft panel after we landed, and the second is a picture of the Bay Plaza Hotel building - one of several I got to photograph.

Enjoy!

NZ Flying Doctor Service

Not much to show for today - just one aircraft of note, an air ambulance Cessna 441 Conquest II, ZK-NFD, registered to Garden City Helicopters of Christchurch and with NZ Flying Doctor Service titles.

The C441 was the first Cessna aircraft type equipped with turboprop engines and is a development of the Cessna 404.

A visitor, a kitchen and shifting

It has been a quiet time for pictures recently... but then I have been quite busy in other places.

Big news at home is a new kitchen has been installed. This has obviously been a bit of a focus, but now that it is in I have only got to have the rest of the redecorating to do. As they say, 90% done, only 90% to go! :-)

In other news, Wellington Aero Club is shifting its aircraft to a new hanger on Wellington airport. Lots of effort for some people, but such is life. The existing club rooms remain where they are, so it's not such a huge change. I hope to have some pictures of the hanger in due course.

Pictures today are a Piper PA28-181, ZK-MIL, registered to Southern Wings of Invercargill parked up at the Club. The second is an Air Nelson DHC-8, ZK-NEB, taking off. This was photographed from our "new" [1930's, historic] hanger.

Flying NZ "Cook area" regional comps: Post 6 - More visiting aircraft

Here are the final pictures of various aircraft from the competitions. The first is part of the flight line [there are two more in behind there somewhere].

The remaining pictures are are follows:

Gippsland GA8 Airvan, ZK-TZT, registered to Izard Pacific Aviation at Taupo

Grumman Aviation AA-5A, ZK-DLL, registered to a Wellington address

Maule MXT-7-180, ZK-JQY, registered to Wanganui Sea and Air Charters

... and lastly Cessna 172N, ZK-EKG, registered to Air Hawkes Bay of Hastings, in a nice evening shot.

Flying NZ "Cook area" regional comps: Post 5 - Various visiting aircraft

It has been a busy few days, hence the lack of the remaining posts from the competition weekend.

These pictures are of various aircraft visiting, or participating, in the competitions. Top to bottom are:

Piper PA23-250 Aztec, ZK-TDM, registered to Sunair Aviation of Mt Maunganui

Gardan GY-20 Mincab, ZK-RJK, registered to a Hastings address

Cessna R172K, ZK-SMP, registered to Wyndon Aviation of Christchurch

Piper PA18A-150 Super Cub, ZK-BRO, registered to a Hastings address

Cessna 182B, ZK-BHP, registered to a Hastings address

Flying NZ "Cook area" regional comps: Post 4 - Two ship formation

There was only one formation team at this year's Regionals, from Hawkes Bay & East Coast Aero Club. The team had a practice on Friday afternoon which is where I captured these photos.

Not a bad job considering the conditions - with a little more work will be able to give Canterbury and North Shore a run for their money at the Nationals :-)

Flying NZ "Cook area" regional comps: Post 3 - more grid photos

Given that the grid is such an important part of competition day, I thought I would include a few more pictures from the grid. Unfortunately I didn't get photos of every aircraft as I was running back and forth between the grid and the aero club buildings with people, results and the like.

You'll see in the photos that it was a lovely [hot] day - thank goodness for lots of sunscreen and some shelter!

Anyway, here are a few that I did get. Top to bottom are:

Piper PA38-112 Tomahawk, ZK-FJS, registered to Air Hawkes Bay

Piper PA38-112 Tomahawk, ZK-FRS, registered to Wanganui Aero Club going around

Piper PA38-112 Tomahawk, ZK-FML, registered to Wellington Aero Club

and... lastly... a local Pacific Aerospace Cresco 08-600, ZK-WAT, registered to Wanganui Aero Work [and not flying in the comps!]

Oh yeah - there were a large percentage of Tomahawks at the comps, 9 out of around 25 aircraft.

Flying NZ "Cook area" regional comps: Post 2 - the grid

In a flying competition, the "grid" is a marked [in our case, mown into the grass runway and indicated by marker boards] out in 10 meter intervals, and a "fence" 1.2 meters high off the end. The idea is that the aircraft pass over the fence then land in the middle segment on the grid for maximum points.

Easier said than done? Perhaps, but there were really impressive landings anyway! The grid is used for circuit competitions as well as for simulated forced landing competitions.

The photos in this post consist on a photo of the fence, down the grid and the "sweet spot" in the middle of the grid. Following this, are several photos of competition aircraft trying to get onto the grid. Top to bottom are:

Cessna 172M, ZK-DKD, registered to a Masterton address

Cessna 152, ZK-JIA, registered to Kapiti Districts Aero Club

Tecnam P2002 Sierra, ZK-MVT, registered to Wairarapa & Ruahine Aero Club

Cessna 172N, ZK-KAS, registered to Kapiti Districts Aero Club

TL TL-3000 Sirius, ZK-EBG, registered to a Marton address

Flying NZ "Cook area" regional comps: Post 1

The past weekend was a very busy one with the Flying NZ "Cook area" regional competitions being held at Masterton [Hood] aerodrome. The competitions were officially hosted by Wellington Aero Club, but with a lot of work also done by Flying New Zealand and the Wairarapa-Ruahine Aero Club.

Competitors came from Hawkes Bay & East Coast, Wanganui, Kapiti, Wairarapa-Ruahine and Wellington aero clubs and competed in a range of competitions including circuits and landings, aerobatic, forced landing, navigation, low flying, and my two favourite comps [which I competed in], bombing and liferaft dropping :-)

Arrival for officials, competitors, supporters and their aircraft was Friday with the competitions themselves occurring on Saturday. The competition dinner and awards presentation occurred on Saturday night.

In this first post, there are pictures of the aircraft I competed in and a small selection of other photos. The remaining posts will have various other pictures from the comps.

Anyway, on to the pictures. Top to bottom are:

Cessna 172N, ZK-FLT, registered to Wellington Aero Club
Piper PA38-112 Tomahawk, ZK-WAC, registered to Wellington Aero Club

Piper PA18-150 Super Cub, ZK-BPM, registered to Air Hawkes Bay

Bolkow Junior, ZK-CJB, registered to a Napier address

Lastly... it's got to be good for you... Yeah Right!

Visitors to the Aero Club apron

Just a couple of visitors seen on the aero club apron today.

The first is a Beech 76 Duchess, ZK-EZX, registered to Ardmore Flying School. Next is a Piper PA28-161, ZK-LJJ, registered to Canterbury Aero Club. Finally we have Piper PA28-140, ZK-DEJ, registered to a Mosgiel address.