Big brother, little brother and a bus

Today's pictures start with two Piper's. The first is Piper PA28R-200 Arrow, ZK-DUY, which is operated by Canterbury Aero Club in Christchurch. In the background of this picture is another Piper, a PA38-112 Tomahawk, ZK-WAC, which is part of the Wellington Aero Club fleet.

Piper PA28R-200 Arrow, ZK-DUY, operated by Canterbury Aero Club

Next up is an Airbus A320-232, VH-VGH, which is operated by Jetstar Airways.

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

In other news, I had a good flight today... hopefully I'll have some photos in the next day or so :-)

Another flight today

I had planned to have a flight in the Club's Cessna 172N, but with the wind getting up, and the winds being gusty, variable and with a crosswind [particularly at the northern end], I decided against it. Instead I took a dual flight in the Club's Piper PA28-161 Warrior, ZK-MBG.

I hadn't flown a PA28 in a wee while so this was always going to be a bit of fun. Today was no exception, but mainly because of the turbulence we encountered on every takeoff... it seems every time I go up in a PA28, I end up hitting my head a few times... ha ha ha!

Anyway, after a bunch of circuits and some turns and a lot of holding, I managed a few circuits and didn't manage to embarrass myself too much :-)

Pictures are of the Warrior [note the dark clouds in the background] and two pictures of a Piper PA28R-200 Arrow, ZK-DUY, registered to Canterbury Aero Club which arrived today.

Mainly lighties

It's easy to see the difference between the weather today and what we had last weekend! Last weekend was grey, gloomy and raining, today has been bright and dry.

Needless to say, there has been a lot of Club flying today, including Piper PA28R-201, ZK-EIF, which hasn't been flying for a couple of months. Also, we had a Canterbury Aero Club visitor, in the form of another Piper PA28R-200, ZK-DUY. The difference between the -200 and -201? The -200 has the slab wing [sometimes also called the Hershey wing, because it's shaped like a chocolate bar!], and the -201 has a more complex shape.

Other aircraft included Cessna 172R, ZK-NAD from Nelson Aviation College, and lastly, something a little bigger, Aerospatiale-Alenia ATR72-212A, ZK-MCP, of Mount Cook Airline with its plain white rudder.

Enjoy!

A nice flight and some different visitors

It has been a good weekend for flying, so when my parents decided to come and visit, I was able to take them for a quick flight out from Wellington, across Cook Strait, to the Marlborough Sounds, then back again. All done in only 0.8 hrs.

For those who do not live anywhere near here, the Marlborough Sounds would have to be one of the most scenic environments you could fly through. The Sounds are [pretty much by definition I suppose] a series of inlets "constrained" by steep sides hills and islands. A fantastic scenic place to fly through! Although I did not get any pictures of my own, click here for a Google images search of photos others have taken.

In other "news", here are pictures of some visitors to the Wellington International Airport western apron today [Sunday]. Top to bottom we have:

Piper PA28R-20o Arrow II, ZK-DUY, Canterbury Aero Club

Piper PA28-161, ZK-MND, Aircraft Rentals of Rangiora

Cessna 172P, ZK-SBK, Canterbury Aero Club

Cessna 172N, ZK-EOS, Hawera Aero Club

2 x Fairchild SA227-AC Metroliner, ZK-POB, Airwork Flight Operations of Auckland

The Metroliner was here on an aero-medical flight, the others appeared to be just passing through in various directions.