Air Chathams ATR72

Following on from my last post's Air Chathams theme, here are Air Chathams' ATR-GIE ATR72-500, ZK-MCO departing Wellington.

ATR-GIE ATR72-500, ZK-MCO, operated by Air Chathams

ATR-GIE ATR72-500, ZK-MCO, operated by Air Chathams

Beautiful weather and high tides

It has been yet another beautiful winter's day in Wellington! Cool, but not too cold, not very windy [just a gentle cross wind] and clear skies. I didn't get to go flying myself, although plenty of others did.

Like many airports in New Zealand, Wellington airport is on the coast and there have been some unusually high tides over the past few days. For today, these tides created some decent sized waves getting into the carpark at Lyall Bay and other places.

Anyway, on to the photos. First up is ATR-GIE ATR72-212A, ZK-MCO, operated by Mount Cook Airline/ Air NZ. As you can see, the crosswind is not too strong.

ATR-GIE ATR72-212A, ZK-MCO, operated by Mount Cook Airline/ Air NZ

Next up is one of many pictures of waves hitting the carpark wall in Lyall Bay. I especially like the high resolution version of this image in which you can clearly see sand and other stuff suspended in the water!

Waves at Lyall Bay

 Last up is a distant shot of an Air NZ Airbus A320-232 disappearing into the afternoon... probably off to Christchurch.

Airbus A320-232, operated by Air NZ

Ridge Air, Mount Cook Airline and Jetstar

It was somewhat dull and a wee bit breezy to go flying today... but it's looking like tomorrow will be better.

Pictures I did get include the following three examples. First up is a Piper PA34-220T, ZK-BJM, which is operated by Ridge Air.

Piper PA34-220T, ZK-BJM, operated by Ridge Air

 Next up is one of Mount Cook Airline/ Air NZ's older ATR-GIE ATR72-212A aircraft, ZK-MCO. It looks like this aircraft has been registered to Mount Cook since December 1999, so I guess this will make it one of Air NZ's older aircraft.

ATR-GIE ATR72-212A, ZK-MCO, operated by Mount Cook Airline/ Air NZ

 Last up are two Airbus A320-232's, both operated by Jetstar Airways.

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

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

A quick trip down south

I was working out of the office last week, in and around Christchurch and Dunedin. Unfortunately there wasn't much time for aviation-related sightseeing, but such is life.

I flew to Christchurch [NZCH] on Jetstar [definitely not my choice, but then I wasn't paying], and it looks like someone found cheap flights on Sunday morning... and that nobody else much likes flying anywhere on Sunday morning either [or maybe nobody else much likes flying Jetstar???]. The aircraft would have barely been half full.

My colleague and I were in row 5 on an Airbus A320 and there were a total of 3 passengers in front of us, and by the look of the interaction with one from the otherwise disinterested cabin crew, one of them was likely a Jetstar staffer.

Anyway, we survived the trip to Christchurch and on Wednesday evening flew on a Mount Cook/ Air NZ ATR-GIE ATR72 to Dunedin [NZDN].

On Friday we were due to fly direct from Dunedin home to Wellington but due to crew illness, we ended up flying back via Christchurch [on ATR-GIE ATR72-212A, ZK-MCO, and ZK-MVB], and only arriving 40 minutes are the original schedule - nicely done Air NZ.

Anyway, photos... top to bottom we have:

View out of the Jetstar A320 soon after takeoff from Wellington.
Empty seats on the flight
Boeing 737-319, ZK-NGG, registered to Air NZ at Dunedin Airport
ATR-GIE ATR72-212A, ZK-MCO, registered to Mount Cook Airline, also at Dunedin Airport

Fog in Wellington causes delays and cancellations

The past two days have seen a lot of fog in Wellington, with fog rolling in yesterday afternoon/ evening, lasting much of the morning and returning [though not as thick] this evening.

Needless to say there were many cancellations and delays, although when I visited the airport this evening, I saw most of the usual aircraft types operating, from British Aerospace J32, DHC8, ATR72, B737 and A320.

After seeing the fog this evening, I'm starting to wonder what it would take to actually close the airport :-)

Anyway, top to bottom we have:

General Dynamics Allison Convair 440/580, ZK-CIE, registered to Air Chathams
Airbus A320-232, ZK-OJH, registered to Air New Zealand
Boeing 737, rego unknown [for obvious reasons!] registered to Air New Zealand
ZK-OJH taking off
British Aerospace Jetstream Series 3200, ZK-LFW, registered to Vincent Aviation
ATR-GIE ATR72-212A, ZK-MCO, registered to Mount Cook Airline
View across to the Airport terminal

A incident at Wellington earlier today

There was a small incident at Wellington International Airport earlier today. I arrived at the club to see a Mount Cook Airline [part of the Air New Zealand group] parked on the runway with one engine shutdown and airport fire responding.

Initial reports indicate that the crew received an engine fire indication on the approach. There was no sign of fire evident as the aircraft waiting on the runway, and it was soon taxiing back to the gate with the approximately 60 passengers on board.

Airport fire spent some time cleaning up some liquid left on the runway [from the extinguisher???], and the airport was effectively closed for about 35/40 minutes with resultant diversions and a couple of lighties [including one from the aero club] held in the air.

What follow are a few pictures. If you look close you'll see that the right hand engine is feathered.

Today's random visitors

I went for a quick flight today to the southern Wairarapa area [Palliser Bay] in Cessna 172N, ZK-FLT; no photos - I was too busy flying and having fun :-)

I did get some photos of various other aircraft, including a UK-registered Dassault Falcon 2000EX, G-ITIG, registered to TAG Aviation. It's not often that we get visitors from the northern hemisphere here at Wellington.

Other aircraft were Cessna 525B Citation CJ3, ZK-TBM from Pacific Jets Ltd in Christchurch, Aerospatiale-Alenia ATR72-212, ZK-MCO, registered to Mount Cook Airline Ltd. Lastly, we have Aerospatiale AS350BA, ZK-HEX and registered to Reid Heslop Helicopters.