A small trainer fleet change

There has been a small change in the trainer fleet at the aero club, with one Piper PA38-112 Tomahawk going, but replaced with another. ZK-JFE has departed and ZK-TAW has returned to the fleet.

Also, Cessna 172N ZK-ETK has departed.

Pictures are of the "new" Tomahawk.

Omaka Trip # 1

I was planning to do a bit of strip training on Sunday, but unfortunately weather and planning conspired to prevent that from happenning.

It was good enough to go flying though, and despite 20-30 knots on the ground, with a reasonably strong north-west flow upstairs, we jumped in our Cessna 172 [ZK-ETK] and headed off to Omaka. Omaka is west of Wellington and so it was a slow trip there, but fairly quick on the way back.

Once at Omaka I pulled off a fairly good landing and parked up at the aero club.

Photos from the flight [next post will contain more] are:

Cessna 172N, ZK-ETK, Wellington Aero Club
Cessna 172S, ZK-SAN, Soundsair Ltd
[this is the same aircraft I used for my Avskills strip flying course back in January. Click here.]
Robinson R44, ZK-HDD, Skyline Helicopters Ltd
Cessna 150D, ZK-CHM, Soundsair Ltd
Piper PA38-112 Tomahawk, ZK-EIY, registered to a Blenheim address
Piper PA18A-150 Super Cub, ZK-ERB, Marlborough Aero Club

Wellington Aero Club Open Day 2010 #18: This is the Club

After all is said and done, this was an aero club open day. We had great fun, and a great day [great weather also!]! Many thanks of course to those who supported the day by bringing and operating aircraft and by providing support during the day, and of course our visitors!

To finish off, here are some of photos of club aircraft. First are two Piper PA38-112 Tomahawks which were conducting trial flights throughout the day [ZK-JFE and ZK-WAC]. Next is Piper PA28R-201 Arrow ZK-EIF, then an elevated view including Cessna 172N ZK-ETK.

If you've ever thought of learning to fly, now's a good time to have a quick chat with your local aero club. If you're in the Wellington region, give Wellington Aero Club a call on 04-3888333 or visit us on Coutts St, Wellington [Kilbernie side of the airport]. Website is http://www.flywellington.co.nz/. Flying NZ is another great place to start. Tell them you heard about them here!

Another quick flight

I had another quick flight today. The intention was to fly to Masterton for a few circuits then come back. Unfortunately, the Hutt Valley was covered in cloud and there was not going to be any way through. I did not want to spend the time to go south and around the southern end of the North Island, so we came back to Wellington for a few circuits.

The circuits included a couple of "short approaches" where we fly a closer base leg and a fairly "normal" circuit. The final landing was a nice short roll out thanks to a short field approach technique.

The aircraft was Cessna 172 ZK-ETK from the club. Pictures are takeoff, the Hutt Valley [yuk!] and a couple of pictures from the last circuit.

One last thing - don't forget the Wellington Aero Club Open Day next Saturday 27 March, starting at 10am! There are going to be a wide variety of aircraft here, so we look forward to seeing you!

After the storm... a [near] perfect day plus some renovations

After yesterday's stormy conclusion to the day, today dawned bright and fine. A typically [??] lovely autumn day in Wellington!

In preparation for the Club's open day on Saturday 27 March, we had a working bee to do some renovations to the club hanger. This involved removing some old storage rooms at the rear of the hanger, to make more room for the aircraft.

I was also invited to go on an all-up-weight check ride for a Cessna C172 check ride [ZK-ETK]. That was a bit of fun - I always enjoy the opportunity to become freight of the self-loading variety :-) and take a few photos.

Anyway, on to the photos. First is the renovation mess and the last is the finished result. The remainder are from the check ride, including a look at the RNZAF's Air Movement Base at Wellington and a couple of ships in the harbour entrance area.

Enjoy!

Another great day today, circuits at Wharekauhau.

After yesterday's great weather day, today was another beauty! The best thing I did today was go and do some strip flying in a club Cessna C172, ZK-ETK, at Wharekauhau airstrip with the CFI. Awesome fun and not too hard if a bit of care is taken :-)

I didn't get any pictures of the flying [I really need to take someone along just to take photos!], but I did have great fun!

Just a couple of photos today. The first is Mount Cook/ Air New Zealand Aerospatiale ATR72, ZK-MCA. The second is a Royal New Zealand Air Force [RNZAF] Bell UH-1H Iroquois, NZ3802. The helicopter was taking some cheerleaders/ dancers to the Wellington Rugby Sevens tournament.

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.