Waitangi Weekend #5: More planes spotted

I spotted a number of aircraft at and around Wellington today. The first picture is another of the NZ Post/Airwork Boeing 737-219QC, ZK-NQC parked up at Wellington.

The second are two photos of a Royal New Zealand Air Force [RNZAF] Lockheed P3K Orion during an overshoot where it seemed to be well left of the centre line, almost over the aero club [which makes for interesting photos :-)].

The last two photos are of an Australian registered Convair 440/580, VH-PAL of Pionair arriving at Wellington.

More visitors then I'm back to work

Today is my last day of the Christmas holiday break; tomorrow I head back to work, and back to the [more or less] weekly updates for the blog.

Today's visitors included a couple of PA28's and an Australian registered Convair.

ZK-LJE is a Piper PA28-181 Archer registered to Canterbury Aero Club in Christchurch. ZK-FTR is a Piper PA28-161 Warrior registered to Air Hawkes Bay [I think this was on an IFR training/practice flight...?].

The Australian visitor is a Pionair Convair 340, registration VH-PDW. Interestingly, while the CASA website says Convair 340, Pionair's website says Convair 580. Not sure what or why there is this difference.

Enjoy the pictures... now I'm off to earn some dollars to pay for this flying gig! :-)

Convair 580 at Wellington

The Convair 580 is an awesome looking beast. Everything about it looks large. It sits well off the ground, seems to have long wings, it has two big turboprop engines, and what can I say about those props??!!! I'm not sure that they would be that efficient, but they are large! There's not much ground clearance on the props, so this would have to be a beast for fairly smooth runways and taxiways only. Convairs are also noisy and smokey [nice!] - just a shame it was not starting up while I was there!

This particular example is still doing ATO's [Air Transport Operations] around New Zealand and is operated by Pionair Adventures Ltd.

The first picture shows off the wingspan of this magnificent aircraft. The second is a front-quarter view and the third is a closeup of the nose and those huge paddles [note the prop ground clearance]!

Odds and sods from Wellington

Here are a few odds and sods from Wellington International.

The first two are of a General Dynamics Allison Convair 440/580 of Pionair ZK-PAL after landing at Wellington. Following that are two ex-Origin Pacific Airlines Jetstream J41's, then a closeup of a beautiful Grumman American AA-5 ZK-DLH. Lastly, a picture of an Air National Jetstream J31/32.