A very very funny "Honest Airline Advertisement"!

AC/DC fans arrive on mass? :-)

Maybe, maybe not :-)

Anyway, an arrival this afternoon was this CASA CN-235M-200, 52-IC, operated by the Armee de L'Air [French Air Force]. I understand that this aircraft is based at Noumea. It arrived today and parked on the western apron near the Comlux A319 from the previous post.

CASA CN-235M-200, 52-IC, operated by the Armee de L'Air

Still, if they are fans, it'd be a cool way to arrive for the concert :-P

Work trip to Dunedin

I had a work trip to Dunedin [ICAO code: NZDN] today. I left early and arrived home late [read: dark in Wellington both times], so not much photography to undertake there. Once at Dunedin it was off to work with no delay, so I had to wait until the evening flight home to get some photos at Dunedin. Weather was a wee bit windy in Wellington, and cold in Dunedin. In fact, we had fog in the morning [nothing to stop our arrival though], heavy hail 30 minutes before leaving for the airport and rain. Rather cool also - 2 degrees celsius on arrival. Arrrgggghhhhhh.

First up is my ride home to Wellington. This is a Bombardier BD700-1A11 [Global 5000], N689WM, with what might be the coolest livery I've seen in a corporate jet ever! I'm not sure what it is doing in Dunedin, but it was there this morning and still there this evening. BTW - no, it was not really my ride home... I wish!

Bombardier BD700-1A11 Global 5000, N689WM

Next up is another Bombardier, in this case a DHC8-311, ZK-NED. This aircraft is operated by Air Nelson/ Air NZ, and was also not my ride home as it was only heading to Christchurch.

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

Getting closer to my ride home is this Airbus A320-232, VH-VFJ, operated by Jetstar. Thankfully not, and in any case, it was heading to Auckland, not Wellington. Jetstar does not yet fly between Wellington and Dunedin, although this route is to start up shortly.

Airbus A320-232, VH-VFJ, operated by Jetstar

Not at all close to a ride home was this Boeing 737-8FE, VH-YIH, and operated by Virgin Australia. Clearly this was not my ride home as it was heading to Australia. Note in the second picture, the rooster tails from the jetblast on the wet runway :-)

Boeing 737-8FE, VH-YIH, operated by Virgin Australia

Boeing 737-8FE, VH-YIH, taking off from Dunedin

Finally, my ride it. This is of course an Air New Zealand operated Airbus A320-232, ZK-OXG. This is a new aircraft, having only been delivered in February this year. It was flying direct to Wellington, which was convenient, as I was also :-) Still a pity it wasn't the first Bombardier! :-)

Airbius A320-232, ZK-OXG, operated by Air NZ

The next post will have a few phone camera photos, maybe some video, from the flight north.

Not For Operational Use!

During a general tidy-up at the Aero Club a couple of weekends back, we discovered this old [out of date!] page called "Ground To Air Emergency Visual Signalling Code", published by the "Civil Aviation Administration".

Before anyone asks, this is well out of date, but good for a laugh! I especially like the symbol for "Require Firearms and Ammunition"!!! I still can't quite understand what use that might be in civil aviation... ? :-)

A dying breed and... I crashed my brand new helicopter...

A wild and windy day at Wellington today meant no aero club flying, although the wetaher is forecast to be better tomorrow, so we'll see.

One photo from today is a Boeing 737-319, ZK-NGJ, registered to Air New Zealand. By my count, Air NZ only has about 7 B737's still in service, as they are retired in favour of an all Airbus [all A320 at this time] single-isle fleet.

Next photo is my new helicopter. I purchased it today, and so far I've already crashed it a few times - nothing that a quick repair won't fix and practice makes perfect :-)

Merry Christmas from Rodney's Aviation Ramblings!

Merry Christmas everyone. I hope you have a safe, relaxing and enjoyable Christmas and New Year! I'm looking forward to your visits [and for many of you, continuing to enjoy your blogs] in 2014.

There's likely to be a reduction in posts until the next year... I already have a plan for something a little different in mid January - all I need is for the weather to cooperate. More details if it all comes off  :-)

OK, so it's hardly "local", but...

... it is quite funny none-the-less!

Here is Boeing latest design, the Boeing 797-1 - rumoured to replace the B747-8I when it comes out in a few years time :-)

Personally, I'm booking a space on the pool deck!

Latest Boeing model B797. Click for a larger version.

Flying NZ National championships: The Wings Trophy competition, the weather, the PM and some other general views

As I mentioned in an earlier post, the weather was very interesting. It varied between windy and calm, wet and dry, overcast and patches of blue... each day...

Thankfully it was all good on Saturday for the Trans Tasman Wings Trophy competition. The Wings Trophy is a competition between New Zealand and Australia and held in each country on alternating years. This year was New Zealand's turn to host it, and, to cut a long story short, our team retained the title! Well done guys!

We were privileged to have the New Zealand Prime Minister, Rt Hon John Key open the event. Personally, I'm not keen on all his politics, but he is the PM, and it was very good to have him there. He even hung around a bit longer to watch the formation flying competition. Nice.

Anyway, on to the pictures. The first are of the weather, then the PM, the two Wings Trophy teams [NZ on left, Australia on the right] then some other general pictures from the day. Take a good look at the weather pictures - in one, even the ducks are walking [says a lot!]!. The last one is of a dodgy looking formation flight - you'll need to click on the image, but there are about 20 "aircraft" in that one!

Enjoy!

Young Eagles flights and a fish out of water?

Today I had the fun of taking our Young Eagles on a quick flight out to the Hutt Valley and back. Five Young Eagles, two flights and everyone enjoyed themselves. What was even better was that two of them had never been in a light aircraft before, so this was a completely new experience for them.

Apart from that, I snapped the following picture of a fish out of water - that is, a fixed wing instructor sitting in a helicopter... Click on the photo for a good look on his face :-) The helicopter is a Robinson R44 II, ZK-IDO.

Wacky airline advertising

Seen in a mall entrance in Prague on my recent trip was this upside-down vehicle advertising Czech Airlines. A little weird perhaps?

The translation of the message on the top explains it a little:

"Fly from Prague to the other side of the globe"

and here was me thinking it might have been :

"free aeros included on every flight from Prague with Czech Airlines" :-)

Flying NZ "Cook area" regional comps: Post 1

The past weekend was a very busy one with the Flying NZ "Cook area" regional competitions being held at Masterton [Hood] aerodrome. The competitions were officially hosted by Wellington Aero Club, but with a lot of work also done by Flying New Zealand and the Wairarapa-Ruahine Aero Club.

Competitors came from Hawkes Bay & East Coast, Wanganui, Kapiti, Wairarapa-Ruahine and Wellington aero clubs and competed in a range of competitions including circuits and landings, aerobatic, forced landing, navigation, low flying, and my two favourite comps [which I competed in], bombing and liferaft dropping :-)

Arrival for officials, competitors, supporters and their aircraft was Friday with the competitions themselves occurring on Saturday. The competition dinner and awards presentation occurred on Saturday night.

In this first post, there are pictures of the aircraft I competed in and a small selection of other photos. The remaining posts will have various other pictures from the comps.

Anyway, on to the pictures. Top to bottom are:

Cessna 172N, ZK-FLT, registered to Wellington Aero Club
Piper PA38-112 Tomahawk, ZK-WAC, registered to Wellington Aero Club

Piper PA18-150 Super Cub, ZK-BPM, registered to Air Hawkes Bay

Bolkow Junior, ZK-CJB, registered to a Napier address

Lastly... it's got to be good for you... Yeah Right!

Kerosene-powered Spitfire??!? Almost!

Ok, you'll need a bit of an imagination for this one, but I found a kerosene-powered Spitfire last week! Pictures below :-)

Hilarious!!

Check out this video which is probably one of the funniest I have seen in a long time! Called "People Like Us - Pilots", it should have you laughing your head off... unless you're really boring :-)

This is part 1 of 3 - the other parts are available after part 1 finishes.

Enjoy!

So much ignorance, so VERY funny!

You have to take a listen to this! So much ignorance and yet such a funny recording! Apparantly the Australian Government is delibrately poisoning the inhabitants of Melbourne [or at least standing by and allowing Qantas to do it. YEAH RIGHT!

Click Here: "White Stripe" audio recording

In some ways, Rob Muldoon might have had a point [I'm not explaining that - and sorry if you're offended], but then I suspect that there are many paranoid/ delusional/ ignorant people over this side of the ditch [and around the world] who might believe this also... ha ha ha ha ha ha

The Beechcraft Room @ Wellington Aero Club

It was a quiet day today at the club with windy conditions that would have been too difficult for most pilots, so flying was all but cancelled for the day. However with the upcoming 2010 open day coming up on Saturday 27 March, it was a start to a general tidy up around the club with weeds pulled and a bit of rubbish cleared away.

During the cleanup we found an old sign "Beechcraft Room" which is now located above the pilot lounge. Nico - we were thinking of you, when we put this up! Now for some sponsorship! Maybe you could add some skippers to the fleet???

A new Airbus already????!

Hot on the heels of the first engine runs of the new Boeing 787, and with the Airbus A380 bedded in to airline service, it appears that Airbus have been very busy designing the latest addition to their fleet. How they managed to do this without the usual plethora of press releases and insider leaks, I'm not quite sure.

Anyway, Airbus have released these official photos of the new Airbus A390, almost complete, in their main build hanger. The aircraft itself is designed for ultra long-range [Sydney - Heathrow direct!], and ultra comfortable travel, and surprisingly, will work with any A380-ready airport.



Clearly, Airbus are betting on the continued need for very large aircraft. Either that, or it has been a boring weekend with atrocious weather entirely unsuitable for flying light aircraft - leaving way too much time for my imagination to run wild. Your pick. :-)

Thanks for the photos Liz!

Famous Quotes

Here are a couple of [old] famous quotes related to aviation...

"There will never be a bigger plane built." -- [Allegedly] a Boeing engineer, after the first flight of the model 247, a twin engine plane that holds ten people.

"Airplanes are interesting toys but of no military value." -- Marechal Ferdinand Foch, Professor of Strategy, Ecole Superieure de Guerre.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Merry Christmas to you, your family and your friends!

Thanks for taking the time to visit, to leave comments, and in doing so to provide support and encouragement for me to continue these aviation ramblings.

May you have an enjoyable, restful, refreshing and safe Christmas! I hope to "see" you around here again next year! Merry Christmas particularly to my friends/visitors from Wellington [hello WACers], Auckland [greetings AAC and NSAC] and Hamilton [gidday Waikato Aero Club]!

Cheers,

Rodney
http://www.flying.geek.nz/

P.S.: No, I don't believe in Santa - that should be obvious - but here's a picture of Santa at the North Pole, and perhaps a suggestion as to why global warming would be bad [or good, depending on your particular bent!]

Calling all Brainiacs!

Here's a brain test for you.

Take a look at the picture below [the picture is not to scale].

What you are looking at is a picture of 2 black poles sitting in the green ground. The black poles stick out of the ground 4 meters.

There is a brown rope strung between the poles, and it is 2 meters long.

The brown rope hangs down 1 meter.

Question: What is the distance between the poles?

Answers can be left in the comments. First one to get it right gets the grand reward of the admiration of their peers. Sort of! Anyway, here is the picture:

Funny web site...

I've been quite boring of late, with nothing worthy of note happening... bummer!

However, I did find the following website:

http://www.gapan.org/news/rfc.htm

Very funny if you're into flying, not so funny if you have a fear of flying :-)