Fog at Wellington

Saturday was one of those particularly foggy days at Wellington. The morning was OK with some Aero Club flying until about 11am, then it all closed down.

What follows are a few photos of what rolled in. Keep in mind that this was not the worst of it with almost every aircraft that tried getting in. later int he day there were all sorts of diversions, including an A320 to Palmerston North.

Airbus A320-232, VH-VGV, operated by Jetstar Airways

Cessna 208B Grand Caravan, ZK-SAW, operated by Sounds Air

ATR-GIE ATR72-212A, ZK-MCX, operated by Mount Cook Airline/ Air NZ

Airbus A320-232, ZK-OXB, operated by Air NZ

ZK-OXB a few seconds later!

Sounds like a sewer pipe dashing :-P

Four pictures of interest today start with a Sounds Air Cessna C208B Grand Caravan, ZK-SAW. This is the newest Grand Caravan in the Sounds Air fleet and has yet to get the Sounds Air livery applied.

Cessna C208B Grand Caravan, ZK-SAW, operated by Sounds Air

Next up is an aircraft type which is on the way out. Major changes at Air Freight NZ and Airwork will see their Convairs and Metroliners sold off [or scrapped], to be replaced with a number of Boeing 737-400's. Click here for further details from the MRC Aviation blog. These aircraft were sometimes known as the "San Antonio Sewer Pipe" in recognition of where they were built and the shape of the fuselage... :-)

In these pictures we have Fairchild SA227-AC Metroliner, ZK-NSS, taxying in at Wellington. This is operated as an air ambulance, although it seems its time is up shortly also.

Fairchild SA227-AC Metroliner, ZK_NSS, operated by Airwork Flight Operations

Fairchild SA227-AC Metroliner, ZK_NSS, operated by Airwork Flight Operations

Lastly  Air Nelson/ Air NZ Bombardier DHC8-311, ZK-NEW. It's obviously not that new now, as it has been on the register from October 2007. As mentioned in an earlier post, there are a few more of these arriving later this year in the form of competition from Jetstar/ Qantas.

Bombardier DHC8-311, ZK-NEW, operated by Air Nelson/ Air NZ

Yesterday's other aircraft

In addition to the smaller aircraft, I snapped photos of the following types. The first is a Cessna 208B Grand Caravan, ZK-SAA, operated by Sounds Air. This aircraft was parked up for a few minutes to let a group from the New Zealand Association of Women in Aviation. Just sorry I couldn't make it for the trip [thanks for the invite though]!

The second is the local rescue helicopter, ZK-HLF, a Kawasaki BK117 B-2, operated by Helilink Ltd. Last is a picture of an Air Nelson Bombardier DHC-8-311 [Dash 8], ZK-NES retracting its undercarriage.

Enjoy the pictures!

Yesterday and today

Yesterday

Yesterday's weather was pretty much awful for VFR [Visual Flight Rules] flying, so there was no flying from the Club. There were a couple of IFR visitors. The first was this Diamond DA42 Twinstar, ZK-CTH, from CTC in Hamilton.

The second was a Cessna 208B Grand Caravan, ZK-MYH, registered to Air2There.com.

Both of these aircraft were parked up outside the aeroclub. The Twinstar was held up for a couple of hours until the weather was at IFR minima for the flight...



Today

Nothing much in the way of visitors, except for this Cessna 185C, ZK-JHS, registered to Stephenson's Pharmacy Ltd in Whitianga.

The big news for me though was a flight in the Club's Cessna 172N, ZK-FLT. I had not flown a C172 since January 2007, so after a few circuits with a Club instructor I managed a few by myself. I'll probably take it up for an hour next weekend to consolidate some skills before my next big C172 adventure in the next couple of months [more on that in a later post :-)].

More Wellington shots on the new camera

It's been another awesome weather day at Wellington today [I wonder how long this will last??!]. No flying for me today, but I did get to take a few photos - mainly just practicing with the new camera. As I mentioned last time, there's a lot to learn, but I'm learning a lot.

With good weather, the aero club was busy with the trainer aircraft busy most of the day, along with the Nanchang and a number of other flights. Ok, now to the pictures. Top to bottom are:

Cessna 208B Grand Caravan, ZK-MYH, registered to Air2There.com
DHC-8, ZK-NEZ, registered to Air Nelson [part of the Air NZ group]
Nanchang CJ6, ZK-JNA, registered to Wellington Aero Club
Beech BE77 Skipper, ZK-ESC, registered to Wellington Flight Training
Cessna 421C, ZK-MFT, registered to Skyline Aviation of Hastings * see below
Cessna 172N, ZK-ETK, registered to Mainland Air Services



* I've photographed ZK-MFT before, albeit with a completely different paint scheme. Click here to search for this aircraft.

Bigger might be better?

There is something new in the Wellington Aero Club hanger... a Cessna U206G, ZK-WWH. Today was my first chance to get up and personal with it and I'm suitably impressed!

The aircraft is not online as yet, and I don't know if I will be able to afford to fly it, but here's hoping! The photo isn't great - it was taken inside the hanger, and as you'll see from other photos, it was a grey and dreary day.

Other visitors I spotted today were a Sounds Air C208B Grand Caravan, ZK-SAA and a Skyline Aviation Beech B200C, ZK-PLK. The Skyline aircraft was here on an aero-medical mission.

Air2There and from where?

Yesterday [Saturday] was the day to go to Masterton/Hood Aerodrome for the Remembrance Day WW1 Flying Display. Needless to say, the weather went from fine one day to windy the next and things were not looking good.

After dragging myself out of bed, I ended up at the Aero Club around 10:30am with my flight gear, but still thinking that it was a no go.

While waiting, I managed to capture some pictures of two air2there.com aircraft and a visitor from New Plymouth Aero Club [NPAC].

The air2there aircraft are a Cessna C208B Grand Caravan, ZK-MYH and a Piper PA31, ZK-WHW. The NPAC visitor is a Cessna A152 [aerobat], ZK-JDB.

After all this, we did end up going to the flying display, which was AWESOME - more details in my next series of posts!

Air2There Cessna Caravan

This is a picture of a Cessna 208B [Caravan] from local airline Air2There. This was taken as it lifted off from Wellington.

Air2There is based at Paraparaumu Airport [about 15 minutes flight north of Wellington Airport] and does a circuit that includes Blenheim and Nelson [the top of the South Island], Wellington and Paraparaumu.

Sounds Air pictures

Here's a couple of pictures I took today of a Sounds Air C208 Caravan ZK-PDM about to land at Wellington.

Cessna Caravan

This is one of the Cessna Caravan's that frequent Wellington airport, in this case operated by Sounds Air. Sounds Air is one of two 3rd-tier airlines that have regular, scheduled sectors into Wellington [the other being Air2There].