Last weekend, this Air Chathams-operated Fairchild SA227-AC Metroliner, ZK-CID, was parked up at the aero club.
It has been many years since I last flew on one of these - it was in the days of Origin Pacific from memory, although I also flew on them when operated by the now shut down Eagle Airways.
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| Fairchild SA227-AC Metroliner, ZK-CID, operated by Air Chathams |
Here is a new arrival for Wellington Aero Club - it's another PA38-112, ZK-JHF. This aircraft is owned by WASSI, but will be used by Wellington Aero Club when not required for the Walsh Memorial Scout Flying School.
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| Piper PA38-112, ZK-JHF, operated by Wellington Aero Club |
I have only been up the Desert Road corridor once before, so it was good to see it again. Last time was clear skies. This time we flew up and back down with a bit more cloud and a bit of rain, although neither of them affected the flights.
It's a magic flight along this corridor, squashed between pieces on military airspace over the Waiouru training area, although I wouldn't want to be here in low cloud or poor visibility! In these first two photos, it's only the tops of the mountains that are obscured. The corridor itself was quite ok.
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| Mount Ruapehu |
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| Mount Ngauruhoe and Mount Tongariro |
A few nautical miles north of the Desert Road corridor is the town of
Turangi. There is a small grass airfield [ICAO designator is NZTN] just
out of town, as shown in the following photo. I haven't been in there yet - maybe another day.
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| NZTN - Turangi airfield |
The ultimate destination for this flight [prior to returning to Wellington] was Taupo airport. The pilot who flew up and another passenger picked up a Piper PA38-112 for the return trip and I got to fly the Cessna 172N, ZK-EKE home.
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| NZAP - Taupo airport |
You may have seen my last post about going for a fly last Saturday. In case nobody has guessed the location of the mystery aerodrome, I won't mention the flight's destination, but here are some more photos from the flight.
I was a passenger on the outbound flight and this gave me plenty of time to take a few photos. First up are of the main terminal and apron at Wellington, a couple of photos from the Hutt Valley, followed by a less usual angle on Paraparaumu - this was taken as we prepared to go controlled VFR [visual flight rules in controlled airspace] to to Palmerston North and beyond.
Anyway, I hope you like the photos.
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| Main apron at NZWN - Wellington International |
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| View from the Hutt Valley looking south |
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| View from the Hutt Valley looking north |
I particularly like this view of Paraparaumu. It not only shows the layout of the aerodrome, but also shows the remnants of the old style "A" layout of the past, along with the encroachment of the township. From memory, when I first flew into NZPP, there were two sealed runways available - the current one plus the old vectors on the right hand side of the picture.
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| NZPP - Paraparaumu aerodrome |
Last Saturday I got to go flying. Firstly as a passenger to another aerodrome, followed by me flying the aircraft home. We came across this strip of seal somewhere. No, we did not land there.
So, time for a quick competition.
One point for each correct answer for a total of three points on offer. No prize, except the respect and admiration of your fellow pilots!
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| No clues! 😁 |
Things have been slow on the posting front recently. Until recently, all of the New Zealand was subject to a Covid19 lockdown [Auckland continues to be locked down as of writing this], so it was only last weekend that I was able to go out and have a flight.
The past couple of days I was able to get out for a trip up to Whanganui, and while there, I popped into the Wanganui Aero Club [Hi Jonathan!] for a quick look and a chat and got these photos.
The first is a Wanganui Aero Club operated Cessna 150H, ZK-CTF, with the student about to head off for some solo circuits.
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| Cessna 150H, ZK-CTF, operated by Wanganui Aero Club |
This second photo is perhaps a little rarer - Air Chathams had a Saab-Scania SF340, ZK-KRA, off on a trip to Auckland. Rarer with Auckland still in lockdown, though once that lifts, domestic flying will get back to what has become the new normal fairly quickly.
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| Saab-Scania SF340, ZK-KRA, operated by Air Chathams |
