Tigers on the loose in the Wairarapa

I took a quick flight up to Masterton today to take a look at a De Havilland DH82A Tiger Moth and to have a chat with the Sport and Vintage Aviation Society [SVAS] about the possibility of flying this and their De Havilland Canada DHC1 Chipmunk :-) More on that at a later date.

Needless to say, I was very impressed with the Tiger Moth and the Chipmunk. The Chippie is in a hanger undergoing maintenance at the moment, but the Tiger Moth was out in the open on what was occasionally :-) a sunny day. The aircraft itself is registered to a partnership at a  Masterton address but is used by SVAS.

De Havilland DH82A Tiger Moth, ZK-ANL, operated by Sport and Vintage Aviation Society

De Havilland DH82A Tiger Moth, ZK-ANL, operated by Sport and Vintage Aviation Society

De Havilland DH82A Tiger Moth front cockpit

De Havilland DH82A Tiger Moth rear cockpit

A little bit newer was my transport for the day, a Cessna 172S, ZK-CEO, which is operated by Wellington Aero Club.

Cessna 172S, ZK-CEO, operated by Wellington Aero Club

My new favourite B777 photos!

If you're in New Zealand, unless you've been hiding under a rock lately, you're likely to know that there has been a fuel crises affecting Auckland airport recently. Namely, the fuel line which supplies the airport has been broken. This has severely restricted the amount of fuel airlines have been provided over the last week or so, initially 30% of normal uplift, now 50%, soon to be back to normal.

Among the other impacts of cancellations and diversions for enroute fuel uplifts, this has resulted in a number of unusual Air NZ flights - empty airliners being sent to pick up gas at Wellington!

Today was my first opportunity to capture one, an Air NZ operated Boeing 777-219, ZK-OKB. Not only is it an unusual flight, but this is one of the few Air NZ aircraft with the Pacific Wave livery. Nice!

Enjoy the pictures of the aircraft lifting off runway 34, heading back to Auckland.

Boeing 777-219, ZK-OKB, operated by Air NZ

Boeing 777-219, ZK-OKB, operated by Air NZ

Boeing 777-219, ZK-OKB, operated by Air NZ

Fun Flying Day and Competitions at Masterton - 2

Following on from the previous post, here are some pictures of the Kapiti Aero Club-related aircraft. I don't think I got photos of the all, but here's what I got.

Cessna C172F, ZK-CHN, operated by a private owner

Cessna A152, ZK-JEN, operated by Kapiti Aero Club

Cessna A152, ZK-KID, operated by Kapiti Aero Club

Cessna A152, ZK-KID, operated by Kapiti Aero Club

Also, there were a number of local aircraft out flying, including a couple of Tiger Moths! These are operated through the Sport and Vintage Aviation Society and one of them was doing dual flights for our visiting pilots! Unfortunately, having a cold, I didn't go up, but maybe another day!

De Havilland DH82A Tiger Moth, ZK-ANL

De Havilland DH82A Tiger Moth, ZK-ANL

Fun Flying Day and Competitions at Masterton - 1

Over the past few weeks I've been helping to plan a day away from Wellington for some fun flying and a bit of competitions for Wellington and Kapiti aero clubs and some assistance [particularly lunch] from the friendly team at Wairarapa Aero Club. It was decided early on to look at Masterton, as it's close for all of us and it's an uncontrolled aerodrome with wide open spaces. Big ticks all round!

What a day! The weather was better than expected, aircraft arrived in reasonable time [congrats especially to Wellington instructors for herding cats and for getting aircraft there by around 9am!] and everyone was keen and eager. A good safety briefing for all and then we were in to it.

After leaving home early to drive over to Masterton, I spent most of the day on the landing then bombing grids with a few others but, having a cold, better I wasn't flying. In any case, it was a good opportunity to keep an eye on things and to get some photos.

Speaking of photos, here are the photos of the Wellington Aero Club fleet. We took every available aircraft across and they all got well used. Aircraft were:

• PA38-112, ZK-WAC
• PA38-112, ZK-JFE
• PA28-161, ZK-MBG
• C172N, ZK-FLT
• CJ6A, ZK-MAO

Piper PA38-112, ZK-WAC, operated by Wellington Aero Club

Nanchang CJ6A, ZK-MAO, operated by Wellington Aero Club

Piper PA28-161, ZK-MBG, operated by Wellington Aero Club

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

Piper PA38-112, ZK-WAC, operated  by Wellington Aero Club

Piper PA38-112, ZK-JFE, operated  by Wellington Aero Club

Piper PA38-112, ZK-JFE, operated  by Wellington Aero Club

The Grid

An all white DHC8 and a Singaporean 777

Last weekend I got my first photos of the plain white livery of Eastern Australia Airlines [think Jetstar in NZ] operated Bombardier DHC8-315Q, VH-SBW.

Bombardier DHC8-315Q, VH-SBW, operated by Eastern Australia Airlines for Jetstar

Bombardier DHC8-315Q, VH-SBW, operated by Eastern Australia Airlines for Jetstar

Next up is the arrival of the Singapore Airlines flight from Canberra. It's a Boeing 777-212/ER, 9V-SRM. I hear rumour [just rumour at this stage mind you, nothing to back it up right now] that the B777 might be replaced by a B787 Dreamliner in the next 12-18 months. If the rumour is true, business users in particular will like this given the aging state of the current fitout.

Boeing 777-212/ER, 9V-SRM, operated by Singapore Airlines

Dassault Falcon 7X

A very unusual visit to Wellington from a few weeks ago was a Dassault Falcon 7X, G-STMT. This aircraft arrived and departed the same day [just a few hours apart]. It is registered/ operated by Tag Aviation UK.

Beautiful!

Dassault Falcon 7X, G-STMT, operated by Tag Aviation UK

Harmon Rocket II

This slightly familiar but still unusual aircraft is a Harmon Rocket II, ZK-RMD. The Harmon Rocket II is an amateur built aircraft and from what I understand of the aircraft [which is very little...] is a modified version of the Vans RV4.

Harmon Rocket II, ZK-RMD

Current and ex military

It's time for a bit of a catch up after a few weeks of no posting. This post has two aircraft, one which is currently operated by the RNZAF and one which was formerly operated by the RNZAF.

First up is the current aircraft, a Lockheed C130H Hercules, NZ7002, operated by the RNZAF.

Lockheed C130H Hercules, NZ7002, operated by the RNZAF

Next up is the ex-military aircraft, a BAC BAC167 Mk88 Strikemaster, ZK-BAC. This was arriving after a short hop from Whanganui.

BAC BAC167 Mk88 Strikemaster, ZK-BAC, operated by RNZAF Strikemaster Ltd

Hello Whanganui [again!]

I've finally gotten around to putting together a video from last weekend's flight to Whanganui. It's just a short one, of the overhead rejoin, circuit and landing.

As usual, the aircraft is Cessna 172N, ZK-FLT from Wellington Aero Club. After a quick stop to have a friendly chat with a few of the locals [Wanganui Aero Club really is a friendly place!], it was time to head home. Maybe that's a topic for a future video.

Anyway, enjoy this one!