More ballast, more piloting and another Mustang

I arrived at the aero club this morning, only to be invited, yet again, to be ballast on a MAUW [Maximum All Up Weight] check for a pilot undertaking a twin engine rating. I'm not sure if I should be grateful or offended that I'm heavy enough for that :-)

Of course I said Yes :-) and shortly after that I was in the rear of Piper PA34-200, ZK-ROC, sitting back, relaxing and taking a few photos.

First up are some pictures of the aircraft, the instrument panel and then the central city, port area and the airport.

Piper PA34-200 Seneca, ZK-ROC, operated by Wellington Aero Club

Piper PA34-200, ZK-ROC, instrument panel

Wellington City, port, harbour and the Caketin

Wellington CBD and harbour. There's no place better!

Miramar, the airport and Kilbernie

Next I went for a few circuits myself. Today was an ideal day for it, with a light winds, but with a bit of crosswind, light traffic so no delays, options for left and right hand circuits, a change of runway, precision approaches, short approaches, flapless approaches and really helpful ATC. Perfect!

The aircraft was Cessna 172N, ZK-FLT. There are no photos from the flight [I was having way too much fun!], but just this one of the aircraft afterwards.

Cessna 172N, ZK-FLT, operated by Wellington Aero Club

Last up was another visiting Cessna 510 Citation Mustang. ZK-YDZ is based in Auckland and is registered to Brookby Quarries Ltd. A nice way to get around, for sure! This aircraft appears to have been imported from Australia, and has only been on the NZ aircraft register since May 2015.