Dassault Falcon 7X at Wellington

This was a nice surprise, with a Dassault Falcon 7X with Bermuda registration of VP-BZE, arriving at Wellington today. Very, very nice!

There were only two passengers from what I could see - a really nice way to travel! Now if only I could get a type rating :-)

A nice day in Wellington... long may it last :-)

Finally! I day with loads of sunshine and little wind! Just what was needed :-)

Unfortunately I can't go flying right now [something to do with saving for a bit trip later this year...], but I did get out to see what was happening.  The aero club was busy [good to see!] and it was a good day for photos of the coming s and goings. Here are a few samples. Top to bottom are:

Raythean/ Beech 1900D, ZK-EAJ, registered to Eagle Airways
Bombardier DHC-8-311, ZK-NEE, registered to Air Nelson
Boeing 737-3U3, ZK-NGE, registered to Air New Zealand
Piper PA31P-350, ZK-WTH, registered to Air Wanganui [today operated as an air ambulance]

The Queen's 60th diamond jubilee flypast

I don't port a lot of material from other people, but every now and then an interesting picture, or in this case, video, pops up.

This is video of the UK defence force's flypast for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee... really, really cool!

Enjoy!

Odds and sods from today

I'm off work sick today, but I took some time to get out and get a bit of fresh air. So I headed down to the airport and got a couple of snaps from the viewing area right beside the threshold for runway 16.

Top to bottom are:

Cessna 208B, ZK-SAA, registered to Sounds Air
Cessna 172S, ZK-SAN, also registered to Sounds Air and with the Coast Guard titles under the wings
Cessna 172N, ZK-FLT, registered to Wellington Aero Club
Bombardier DHC-8-311, ZK-NEA, registered to Air Nelson
Airbus A320-232, VH-VGT, registered to Jetstar Airways

Virgin Australia Airlines Boeing

Here is another of the recently repainted Virgin Australia Airlines [previously Pacific Blue] Boeing 737-8FE's, ZK-PBA, departing Wellington.

You can see the previous red scheme here: previous ZK-PBA post

More from the Lifeflight Open Day

Further to the previous post [click here], there was another aircraft of interest present.

The aircraft is the latest Vincent Aviation purchase and is a British Aerospace J32 Jetstream, VH-OTR. It will eventually be the primary air ambulance for Lifeflight. It will shortly move to the New Zealand register and will be repainted in an appropriate scheme for an air ambulance. More photos will come once it is repainted.

Lifeflight Open Day

Lifeflight held their annual open day today. Lifeflight provides a rescue helicopter and air ambulance service, with air ambulance bases in Auckland and Wellington and the helicopter based in Wellington. This is a charity worth supporting, so I popped along for a look around.

Displays included the Air Ambulance service [operated by Vincent Aviation], the helicopter, Airport Fire service, NZ Fire Service, police, bomb disposal squad and customs drug dogs etc. As usual there were winching displays and Airport Fire service displays which are a bit of fun.

Pictures are of the Westpac Rescue helicopter, a Kawasaki BK117 B-2, ZK-HLF, and an Airport Fire truck doing their displays.

If you want to support this worthy cause, click here: Donate to Lifeflight

Gulfstream GV visitor

A more exotic visitor for today was this Australian registered Gulfstream Aerospace GV, VH-CCC. It is seen here on the Execujet apron, then taxing and taking off. I understand that this aircraft is owned/ operated by Crown Casinos... probably here to try create even more gambling problems 'cause that's the way they make money support their business interests...

A tale of two Cessnas

They say that a picture is worth a thousand words, so here's a four thousand word essay for you :-)

The first 3 pictures are of a Cessna 510 Citation Mustang, ZK-LCA, registered to Air Hawkes Bay Ltd. The second is a Cessna 172R, ZK-NAA, registered to Nelson Aviation College.

The Canterbury Aero Club is operating "Rebuild Flights" where you can view the rebuild of the city as it is rebuilding following the 2010 and 2011 earthquakes. This video [looks like it might be one of a series] looks at the destruction, as well as highlighting some of the rebuild that is starting to happen.