Emergency response at Wellington Airport today

Today there was an emergency response at Wellington Airport, with a Mount Cook-operated ATR72 turning back from a flight to Christchurch. According to media reports [not that I put much stock in those], this was due to a chlorine smell in the cabin, which apparently resulting from bleach leaking from a bag in the cabin.

Anyway, here is a picture from across the other side of the airport.

The aircraft was one of Mount Cook's newest ATR72's, ZK-MVE, along with emergency vehicles from the airport, NZ Fire Service and an ambulance from Wellington Free Ambulance service.

ATR-GIE ATR72-212A, ZK-MVE, operated by Mount Cook Airline [Air NZ] with emergency vehicles

Women of Aviation Week at Wellington Aero Club

Last Saturday at Wellington Aero Club was our special aimed at celebrating women in aviation and encouraging more to get into aviation, as part fo Women of Aviation Week [WOAW]. Luckily for us, we have a number of very capable female pilots - both instructors and private pilots - who were able to do most of the work to set this up.

With awesome weather, we were able to get a number fo women though for trial flights and also several teams into the Cindy Lauper Challenge (girls just wanna have fun). The results of the challenge will be published by the aero club in the near future.

As part of this day, the folks at Lifeflight sent their Air Ambulance and rescue helicopter over for a few hours, giving visitors a chance to see this inside of these aircraft. A lot of people don't realise that Lifeflight is a charity, and so any financial support you can give them would be much appreciated! Check out the Ways You Can Help section on their website.

The airport company also sent over an airport fire engine. Anyway, here are a few of the photos form the day. I have specially excluded all the photos with our visitors - both for privacy reasons, but also as they will be sent to the aero club shortly for their use.

So, here we go with the photos!

Kawasaki BK117 B2, ZK-HLF, operated by Helilink on behalf of Lifeflight

Cockpit of Kawasaki BK117 B2, ZK-HLF, operated by Helilink on behalf of Lifeflight

Rear view of Kawasaki BK117 B2, ZK-HLF, operated by Helilink on behalf of Lifeflight

British Aerospace Jetstream J32, ZK-LFW, operated by Air Freight on behalf of Lifeflight

British Aerospace Jetstream J32, ZK-LFW, operated by Air Freight on behalf of Lifeflight

And finally... that fire engine!

Wellington Airport Fire Engine

Big, noisy and wet!

Wellington Aero Club is based at Wellington International Airport. As such, the airport is required to provide fire/ rescue services and as part of that, the airport has a couple of brand new fire trucks. One of these was brought over the the Aero Club today, for members and families to take a look over.

Without going into all the details, these Rosenbauer fire trucks are made in Austria, designed especially for airport fire fighting, exported around the world, and Wellington has two of them! 0-80 km/hr in 30 seconds is quite impressive for a vehicle of this size [9.5 tons of water, plus foam, dry powder, hoses, pumps and other bits of kit, plus the truck and engine itself!]

Scott, the fire fighter who brought the truck over for us to look at, showed and talked us through much of the equipment on board. We were allow to look through the cab, before he gave us a demo of their ability to spread a lot of water around in a very short time. Many thanks to Scott for doing this for us!

Anyway, here are a few photos. They are all fairly self-explanatory... and yes, one of these is me sitting in the cab, wishing that I was allowed to press a few buttons!

Passing of a former Wellington Aero Club life member and instructor

Former Wellington Aero Club instructor and life member, Bill Coulter passed away earlier this year. In late April his ashes were scattered over water from a Club aircraft. I was fortunate enough to be there as the aircraft went out and came back, and I have two of photos of that day to share [the delay is because I was waiting until they had been published in the Club's Windsock magazine first].

I'm not going to repeat the obituary that appeared in Windsock [it's available for Club members and supporters on our Facebook page], but I did want to share two photos of the water cannon salute from the Airport Fire service as the aircraft [Cessna 172 ZK-FLT] taxied back to the Club. It's the first, and very likely the last, time I see a Cessna 172 getting a water cannon salute!

I hope you like the photos. You will need to click on them to get a bigger version. Remember, if you are a member or supporter of the Club, check out the full article in the Windsock - it's well worth the read!

Lifeflight Open Day 2013

Today was the Life Flight [air ambulance] open day for 2013.

I popped down to the Life Flight hanger for an hour or so this afternoon to have a look around and to get some photos. The open day is designed to raise awareness of what Life Flight does [air ambulance and helicopter rescue charity], and every year it seem to attract a good crowd who enjoy the atmosphere and attractions.

In addition to the aircraft [a British Aerospace J32 Jetstream, ZK-LFW, and a Kawasaki BK117 B-2, ZK-HLF], there were airport and Fire Service fire engines, Police, Ambulance, Coastguard and Aviation Security displays and equipment. I also got to see a winching demonstration off the back of an airport fire truck.

All in all, a good day which was enjoyed by all!

If you want to find out more, or to donate to this charity, visit the Life Flight website for details [click here].

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

Other aircraft at the open morning

One of the great things of an open morning from an aviation geeks point of view is that I get to see things from a different perspective. It would be an extremely rare occurrence to be able to walk around part of the apron of an international terminal, and I certainly did not want to miss the opportunity.

Here are a few of the other photos that I took. Top to bottom these are:

Airbus A320, ZK-OJM, registered to Air New Zealand

Airport fire truck doing a demo

Boeing 737, ZK-NGF, registered to Air New Zealand

Cessna 208, ZK-TZR, registered to Sounds Air

de Havilland Canada DHC-8, ZK-NER, registered to Air Nelson

Boeing 737, ZK-NGH, registered to Air New Zealand

A incident at Wellington earlier today

There was a small incident at Wellington International Airport earlier today. I arrived at the club to see a Mount Cook Airline [part of the Air New Zealand group] parked on the runway with one engine shutdown and airport fire responding.

Initial reports indicate that the crew received an engine fire indication on the approach. There was no sign of fire evident as the aircraft waiting on the runway, and it was soon taxiing back to the gate with the approximately 60 passengers on board.

Airport fire spent some time cleaning up some liquid left on the runway [from the extinguisher???], and the airport was effectively closed for about 35/40 minutes with resultant diversions and a couple of lighties [including one from the aero club] held in the air.

What follow are a few pictures. If you look close you'll see that the right hand engine is feathered.

Wellington Aero Club Open Day 2010 #8: Airport/ Security Services

The Club open days would never happen without a great deal of assistance from the airport company and they would not be complete without airport based services being in attendance.

WIAL [Wellington International Airport Ltd] was once again generous in the provision of crowd barriers [not to mention help with setup and clear up] and the attendance of the Airport Fire Service. Also, Avsec [Aviation Security] came along with staff, displays and an explosive detector dog.

Pictured below are an airport fire engine and rescue boat, one of the fire displays and the Avsec stand. Unfortunately I didn't get pictures of some other airport company bits and bobs during the day.

Wellington Aero Club Open Day 2010 #1: Preview

The Wellington Aero Club's annual Open Day for 2010 has come and gone, and as expected it, was an absolutely stunning day, and complete with a couple of surprises.

We had a wide variety of aircraft, from our basic trainers through to gyrocopters, helicopters and some pretty flash warbirds! Last, but certainly not least, the Club annouced the winners of the Flying Scholarship [including an award of $5000 worth of flight training!]. My intention is to put together a series of posts, mostly concentrating on one or two aircraft types at a time.

I won't give everything away just yet :-), but here are a few sample pictures of the visitors. Top to bottom are:

Cessna 208, ZK-TZR, registered to Sounds Air
Pacific Aerospace CT4/E, NZ1991, registered to the RNZAF
Airport Fire, fire engine and rescue boat
North American T28C Trojan, ZK-JGS ["Trojan 63"], of the Trojan 63 Syndicate
Consolidated Vultee PBY-5A Catalina, ZK-PBY, registered to the Catalina Company