To Christchurch and back again

Earlier today I had a day trip to Christchurch. An early start [07:10 departure], which meant a practically inhumanly early, and at least antisocial, start to the day, getting up at 05:30. Sympathy is very welcome 😂.

It did mean it was about 16-17 minutes between my front door and the front door of the airport, and about 1 minute more to get to the gate, so I suppose it was not all bad.

It was an ATR72 both ways [urrrggghhhhh] but it's only a short trip, so I suppose I shouldn't complain too much.

Before departure pictures... The first one is proof that it was still rather dull when I arrived at the airport. The second is my ride to Christchurch.

ATR-GIE ATR72-600, ZK-MZD, operated by Air New Zealand

ATR-GIE ATR72-600, ZK-MVJ, also operated by Air New Zealand

Coming home this evening, the F/O announced that it is "slightly gusty" in Wellington. Clearly a great liar 😂, as the surface wind was reported as "330/23KT MAX 35 MIN 11", the 200' wind as "REP 340/46KT" and "MOD TO SEV WS AND TURB".

It was lumpy all the way in, but actually quite a fun ride. And I didn't have to pay extra for it! Ha ha

Anyway, photos on leaving Christchurch... the first picture is as we taxied out and the second as we past overhead Kaikoura and about 20-25 minutes before it got rather lumpy...😂

ATR-GIE ATR72-600, ZK-MVA waiting as we left

Crayfish land, aka Kaikoura

Taupō again :-)

The weather yesterday was just about exceptional. There was little wind, the skies were fairly blue apart from some high cloud through the Desert Road, with just a wee bit of anti-cyclonic gloom [see, I sound fancy!] limiting the visibility down to around 20-30 km in places.

Nice.

Flying past Mount Ruapehu, on the way home

Knowing that there was likely to be very nice weather a few days out, I booked the Nanchang CJ6A for most of the day, and planned a trip from Wellington to Taupō and return. Originally, I was going up the coast to near Whanganui, then up the Desert Road, then returning back via Masterton. The return trip changed for reasons I'll explain later.

Also on the way home. Lovely weather!

The first change was that I flew into Whanganui for fuel. The Nanchang only has 2.5 hours endurance. Given a legal minimum reserve of 30 minutes, we are down to 2 hours flight time. With the Club [sensibly] wanting an extra 15 minutes reserve, we are down to 1 hour and 45 minutes. The flight was planned for 1 hour and 28 minutes, so quite doable. That anti-cyclonic gloom I mentioned? Probably better to have a few more minutes reserve up my sleeve, so I popped into Whanganui for fuel. Hello Jonathan and Zac.

ADSB-In is nice, but eyes are important

Turns out it was all no problem. It all cleared up as I got closer to Waiouru. Still, I'm never heard anyone complain about having more fuel than they needed to have at the end of a flight.

Taupō is a great aerodrome to visit any day. The cafe in the terminal is always a great place to stop and have a snack. Also, hello Anthony and Alex. Bacon butty and Pepsi Max - the lunch of Kings!

It was then that a small issue was found. I use an iPad Mini 6 for my aeronautical charts and navigation planning. It works great, but on longer flights may need a recharge. I have a backup that is usable [on the phone], but it's not ideal.

As it turns out, the cable I selected has a feature. It charges the phone but not the iPad??!?. So, rather than fly through some less familiar airspace, I came back via the same route [but without stopping in Whanganui]. Home in around 90 minutes, and the iPad had plenty of juice for the entire flight [and would have for the original plan... but you know... threat and error management and all that]. Also, NZWU and NZPP available should I have been concerned about fuel [which wasn't an issue].

The naughty cable now has two new features - after confirming that others cables work fine, I chopped the ends off and have ordered some replacements. I guess that just goes to show the importance of testing equipment before I head off..

Munted cable

Anyway, that's today's trip.

Nice equipment :-)

Where to next??

Kia ora Palmy

Another weekend, another flight! Yesterday's flight was planned as a quick trip from Wellington to Palmerston North, across to the Wairarapa and back to Wellington. I had never flown into Palmerston North in daylight [I did a dual night cross country in there some years ago] and with the amazing weather we have had recently, well, why not!

All went well, until I had my entry clearance into the Wellington control zone... some spotted a drone flying around, which caused a few delays. For me, it meant diverting to Masterton for fuel and returning a little later than expected.

As for photos - these are courtesy of Ady who came along for the ride. Thanks for sharing!

These first few photos are from the University arrival into Palmerston North's runway 25 and the departure on a Hiwinui departure.. In the first photo, the airport is is in the centre of the photo.

Left base for NZPM, runway 25

Short final for NZPM, runway 25

After the touch & go on the Hiwinui departure

A view across the Manawatu Gorge

Next up are some pictures heading south passing [what I think is] Eketahuna, with a couple of controlled burn-offs in progress. It's easy to see the wind direction and strength. A nice gentle northerly.

Eketahuna, heading south

Somewhere north, heading south :-)

In the next photo, we are near Featherston [that's the town you can see in the photo], on the way to Mount Matthews, for our first attempt at getting into Wellington.

Hello Featherston!

Next up are two photos approaching, then inside, the Orongorongo Valley. These were taken just before I had been given a control zone entry clearance, which was just prior to a drone was reported to be flying around. This meant a diversion to Masterton [which we had flown past earlier] for fuel. The Orongorongo Valley is where a lot of basic mountain flying training is undertaken by Wellington Aero Club.

Approaching the Orongorongo Valley, just east of Wellington

In the Orongorongo Valley, just east of Wellington

After all that, we returned to Wellington a couple of hours later than expected. Still, it was a nice day to fly down the Wairarapa Valley and across Palliser Bay to return to Wellington.

Southern Wairarapa and Palliser Bay

Finally, if you were flying a drone/ RPAS* near Wellington Airport on Saturday... please don't. It is dangerous and highly disruptive. You could end up in prison... and they don't allow you to fly your drone in prison either 😬. Airshare.co.nz/ has some great information to help keep you out of trouble.

* RPAS - Remotely Piloted Aircraft System, aka a drone.

The flight home from Christchurch

I took a couple of photos on yesterday's return flight from Christchurch. It was a very nice day to be in the air - even nicer that I could sit back and relax.

Awatere Valley, Marlborough and the salt lakes

More smooth seas coming in to Wellington

It happened again 😁

Last night was the annual Wellington Aero Club dinner and prize giving. Like last year, it was held at The Pines, a function centre on Wellington's south coast. A fantastic location and highly recommended!

Here are a couple of pictures looking south from the deck of The Pines. The hills in the distance [behind the setting sun in the first picture] are from the South Island.

There was also the matter of the prize giving. A lot of worthy recipients, plus me 😁 For the second year in a row, I received the Instrument Flying Partial Panel trophy. Will it be three in a row? We will have to wait until next year and see.

The Desert Road Corridor and on to Taupo

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.

Mount Ruapehu

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.

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.

NZAP - Taupo airport

Departing Wellington, flying overhead Paraparaumu

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.

Main apron at NZWN - Wellington International

View from the Hutt Valley looking south

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.

NZPP - Paraparaumu aerodrome

More Nanchang flying

Last Saturday afternoon I had the opportunity to go flying in the Nanchang CJ6A, ZK-MAO. The weather was nice enough, but a bit lumpy in the Southern Wairarapa with mild and fairly consistent turbulence from Turakirae up to Lake Onoke.

Still, it was a fun flight of just over 30 minutes. We're still running the engine a little harder as part of the run-in, so I was cruising at 270-280 km/hr [around 145-150 knots]. Still, fuel consumption was about normal for a slightly lower power setting [mind you, I did lean the mixture], so I can't wait to see what it settles at when we are back to normal power settings in a few hours.

Anyway, a couple of photos. The first is looking north over Lake Wairarapa. The second is looking to the east. Both of these photos were taken at around 1,100' AMSL. The photo was taken on my phone, hence the artefact from the prop interacting with the camera sensor...

A couple of rides on Sunday afternoon

Last Sunday afternoon I was able to go on a couple of quick flights, both times as a passenger. The first was a ride up to Paraparaumu with Vincent flying the Cessna 172N ZK-EKE.  The ride home was in a Piper PA28-161, ZK-KAT, courtesy of Pete.

Both of these were fun and as always, it's great to be able to sit back and relax while someone else does the flying 😁

I've got just a couple of photos of the flight back to Wellington as we raced the daylight to get home about 15 minutes before ECT [evening civil twilight... or night time].

Southern Wairarapa, Lake Onoke and the Baring Sector

Here's a brief video from a flight on 14 March, where I fly south down the southern Wairarapa toward Lake Onoke and Palliser Bay, then return to Wellington via the Baring sector.

The aircraft was Wellington Aero Club's Cessna 172N, ZK-EKE. The video is sped up 6x as otherwise it would be very boring 😀.

 

Leave me a comment if there are more areas around Wellington or the top of the South Island you'd like to see in a future video. No promises, but I may be able to do it!

Overflying Paraparaumu airfield

This short video shows me flying overhead Paraparaumu airfield [ICAO code NZPP] in February. This was part of a fun flight from Wellington, around Kapiti Island, overhead NZPP and back to Wellington.

Enjoy the video!

 

If you like this type of content, then please like and subscribe the video on my Youtube channel. This feedback shows me that you appreciate the content, and finances permitting, I'll make more of them!

A recent flight up Transmission Gully

Enjoy the sights of the northern Wellington region as we track north up Transmission Gully, a new northern route in and out of Wellington. I've finally sorted the camera configuration, so hopefully this looks better than some previous videos.

It seems that like all new roads, it is much delayed, but it due to open in September 2021.

Enjoy the video and come back later this year to see if there's a new video of an opened road! 😁

Like this content?

I am hoping to do a few more of these types of videos, showing off parts of New Zealand as I fly around. Like and subscribe on my Youtube channel to get notified of new videos as they are released.

The Marlborough Sounds

Here's a brief video of a recent trip across the Marlborough Sounds [at the top end of New Zealand's South Island] and what turned out to be smooth flying conditions and good visibility.

The aircraft is Wellington Aero Club's Cessna 172N, ZK-EKE. As I mentioned in the previous post [with content from the same flight], there's still a bit more fiddling to do with the camera settings, but I'm getting there!

Next in-flight video will have the camera's Linear mode set on. I can't wait! Ha ha

Queenstown airport

Last Friday I arrived home after a brief visit to the South Island, which included a one day visit to Queenstown - one of the most spectacular looking parts of New Zealand.

The airport itself is surrounded by mountains, as the following pictures show. Many of the surrounding hills are within a couple of nautical miles of the airfield and rise several thousand feet above it. Amazing!

Here is one extra picture taken in the middle of Queenstown earlier in the day. Equally nice!

Finally, here is a brief video I took from inside the terminal as an Air NZ operated Airbus A320 departed.

I think I might have to do another visit down here one day and have a decent look around... maybe go flying - that would be nice!

Fabulous Friday Foray to Far-off Feature-rich Fields

Earlier this afternoon I took off from Wellington, headed to Whanganui to refuel, then up to Waiouru and the Desert Road corridor to Taupo, to refuel both the aircraft and myself.

After we both had a quick drink 😀 I took off out of Taupo, headed across to the western side of the mountains, then down around the Chateau, Ohakune, Whanganui and back to Wellington.

This was my first time into Taupo in probably 20 years and the first time I have seen the Chateau airstrip [I really do need to go visit it one day...]. The cloud was few to scattered at 6,500', and perhaps broken up against the mountains, so there were no hilltops to see unfortunately.

Also, unlike the trip from a couple of days ago, I had no passenger, so the quality of the photography has decreased somewhat... but here they are!

Heading north. Left to right: Mounts Ruapehu, Ngauruhoe and Tongariro

Nanchang CJ6A, ZK-MAO, operated by Wellington Aero Club

Heading south. Left to right; Mounts Tongariro and Ngauruhoe

Heading south. Mount Ruapehu with the top 3000' hiding in the cloud

Lastly, thanks to those who made me feel welcome as I tripped around today! Kindhearted souls offered to throw me out of a plane in Taupo [it's not the fall that kills you...], invited me to visit their place near the Chateau [yep, need to do this!] and questioned why I wasn't visiting them in Whanganui [when they missed me a few hours earlier...]. Also, sweet-as ATC clearances departing and arriving at Wellington today! Thanks team! A great day to fly!

Wairau Valley, Dip Flat, Omaka and Wellington

I start a new job next Monday, so this week is all about trying to get some flying in! Yesterday I went for a jaunt with Ger, from Wellington across towards Omaka, passing through the transit lane to the Domes reporting point, then up the Wairau Valley.

Near the western end of the Wairau Valley we turned left and headed up to look around Dip Flat reporting point, before heading back to Omaka to refuel and stretch the legs. From there, we headed back to Wellington. 

It was a good day for a flight and we had a lot of fun! Don't think I quite sold Ger on flying the Nanchang though! 😂

Anyway, here are some photos and video from Ger [thanks for sharing!].

Nanchang CJ6A, ZK-MAO, operated by Wellington Aero Club

Crossing Cook Strait, looking north-west towards the Marlborough Sounds

Looking west along the Wairau Valley

Looking west as we track to Dip Flat

On the ground at Omaka

A view of Wellington City. A nice compact CBD!

A brief video looking west across the ranges.