One of Life Flight's air ambulances has recently returned to service after a bit of a "birthday". The most obvious changes are the new livery and the introduction of 5-bladed props.
The old livery was the Weta-designed "bandages" livery. The new one is simpler but in some ways stands out better with the bold red fuselage.
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| British Aerospace Jetstream J32, ZK-LFW, operated by Air Freight for Life Flight |
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| British Aerospace Jetstream J32, ZK-LFW, operated by Air Freight for Life Flight |
Last weekend we had a quick visit from a Cessna 172E, ZK-OMR, which is operated by the Marlborough Aero Club from Omaka airfield.
It's a nice machine, with a mainly red fuselage and the rest being polished metal. From memory, it has a 180hp engine also, so it's got a lot of "up and go".
I've included a closeup of the decal on the tail - I've participated in the Health Bastards Bush Pilot Championships once and have watched a couple of times - it is a great spectacle but even better to participate in!
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| Cessna 172E, ZK-OMR, operated by Marlborough Aero Club |
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| Decal on the tail of ZK-OMR |
Last weekend we had a visiting Piper PA28-181 Archer, ZK-EBZ, which is operated by Mid Canterbury Aero Club of Ashburton [aka Ashvegas].
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| Piper PA28-181 Archer, ZK-EBZ, operated by Mid Canterbury Aero Club |
Yesterday I flew a Piper PA38-112 Tomahawk for the first time in a while. It was a good opportunity for a bit of dual and a quick refresher on basic instrument flying. I am rusty 😀
The weather wasn't quite as nice as yesterday. It was a bit breezier which made things interesting but overall a fun time.
Aircraft for today was ZK-FML. Legend has it, it is the fastest Tomahawk in the country [that might be B.S. but it sounds like a good rumour....!]
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| Piper PA38-112 Tomahawk, ZK-FML, operated by Wellington Aero Club |
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!
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| Heading north. Left to right: Mounts Ruapehu, Ngauruhoe and Tongariro |
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| Nanchang CJ6A, ZK-MAO, operated by Wellington Aero Club |
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| Heading south. Left to right; Mounts Tongariro and Ngauruhoe |
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| 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!
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!].
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| Nanchang CJ6A, ZK-MAO, operated by Wellington Aero Club |
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| Crossing Cook Strait, looking north-west towards the Marlborough Sounds |
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| Looking west along the Wairau Valley |
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| Looking west as we track to Dip Flat |
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| On the ground at Omaka |
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| A view of Wellington City. A nice compact CBD! |
A brief video looking west across the ranges.
Here's a quick snap of a Pilatus PC12/45, ZK-PLZ I got last week. It's a really nice "corporate" livery!
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| Pilatus PC12/45, ZK-PLZ, operated by Sounds Air |
This Gulfstream Aerospace G650ER, A7-CGD, was parked up at Wellington on Saturday, having arrived a day or so earlier. This aircraft is operated by Qatar Amiri Flight [according to their website] is a "private VVIP airline [which] operates exclusively for the Royal Family and high ranked government staff of the State of Qatar".
No idea what it is doing here considering the current Covid19 restrictions, but a guess would be to repatriate some Qatari citizens - that is of course only a guess.
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| Gulfstream Aerospace G650ER, A7-CGD, operated by Qatar Amiri Flight |
Also looks like it has been a bit windy here recently... 😂
It seems that when New Zealand's Covid alert level gets high enough to require social distancing, Jetstar Airways decides that it's not worth while flying. To be fair, it might not be financially worth it.
This means that Jetstar has recently started flying again after a shutdown brought on by the recent [now contained] Covid outbreak in Auckland... so, here's one of their A320's landing at Wellington last weekend.
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| Airbus A320-232, VH-VFL, operated by Jetstar Airways |
I went flying today in my Nanchang CJ6A, ZK-MAO. The plan was to head overhead Lake Station and Murchiston to Westport for fuel, then overhead Karamea to Nelson for more fuel then home again.
The weather was mostly good, until I got just past Lake Station, where it was a rubbish, a bit rainy and with cloud down on the hills. I wasn't sure I could go south to get into Westport [and in any case, I didn't have a lot of excess fuel anyway], so I diverted to Nelson. After refueling in Nelson, I took a Bolder departure, then headed to The Brothers and back to Wellington for a 16 City Arrival.
Fun times! In the followed screen shot from Avplan, the red track was the planned track and the green track is what I actually flew.
This past week or so has certainly had some interesting weather! In Wellington, even us locals have been commenting on the wind, with gusts up around 60 knots [about 110km/hr] at times. On the past weekend, the crosswind component was gusting up over 30 knots at times.
As you may have seen from previous posts, this has provided a bit of excitement for those of us on the ground watching others landing with more go-arounds than I have seen on a single day previously. Still, as I always say "go-arounds are a perfectly normal procedure and nothing to get excited about". they can look interesting though.
This set of photographs is of a Royal New Zealand Air Force operated Lockheed C130H Hercules, NZ7002, landing at Wellington. You can see from the second photo that there was a strong crosswind, which is fairly unusual for Wellington, but very prominent recently.
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| Lockheed C130H Hercules, NZ7002, operated by the RNZAF |
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| Lockheed C130H Hercules, NZ7002, operated by the RNZAF |
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| Lockheed C130H Hercules, NZ7002, operated by the RNZAF |
Last Saturday, I had a brief trip to Christchurch and back on Air NZ. Both flights were in ATR-GIE ATR72 aircraft and were about as comfortable as you've expect in an ATR72 😀 The weather was fine during my flights which was nice, and everything ran to time.
As I noted in my past post however, Sunday was a "bit different" with strong gusty winds making for some go-arounds and [what I imagine to be] some fairly turbulent rides about the country.
Here are some photos of the Air NZ-operated turboprops which made it into and out of Wellington during the weekend. The first one is an ATR-GIE ATR72-600, ZK-MVP, which just happened to be the aircraft I flew down to Christchurch on yesterday [could have done with a clean, Air NZ...].
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| ATR-GIE ATR72-600, ZK-MVP, operated by Air NZ |
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| ATR-GIE ATR72-600, ZK-MZB, operated by Air NZ |
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| Bombardier DHC-8-311, ZK-NFB, operated by Air NZ |
Today was a day for weather-related disruptions at Wellington [and in other places]. This was perhaps most evident with a number of Airbus A320/ A321 and ATR-GIE ATR72 go-arounds and diversions.
Now anyone who knows anything about aviation will know that go-arounds are noting to get to excited about [they are a perfectly normal maneuver] also perhaps unusual for many passengers. On occasions where this also results in a diversion, this could be very inconvenient for passengers, but better to be safe.
In what is perhaps today's biggest disruption, an Airbus A320-232, ZK-OXJ [pictured below] departed Wellington, flew to Queeenstown, where it overshot [went around], diverted back to Wellington, had one attempt to land at Wellington, before diverting to Auckland. That would have been a less than fun time for both the passengers and the crew!
It is also the start of school holidays, so it appears that Air New Zealand used a number of Airbus A321 NEOs today which made for some interesting sights as these lovely looking aircraft flew overhead the airfield...
Anyway, on the the photos! All of these aircraft are operated by Air New Zealand.
The first photo is an Airbus A320-232, ZK-OXJ. You can compare the size of this aircraft to the second and third pictures, which are of Airbus A321-271NX aircraft, registered ZK-NNG and ZK-NNA. You can click on the images for lager sizes.
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| Airbus A320-232, ZK-OXJ, operated by Air NZ |
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| Airbus A321-271NX, ZK-NNG, operated by Air NZ |
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| Airbus A321-271NX, ZK-NNA, operated by Air NZ |
The following are photos of Airbus A321 aircraft after landing at Wellington. The first one is ZK-NNA [pictured above] and the second is ZK-NNG, this time on a subsequent flight, having diverted back to Auckland earlier in the day.
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| Airbus A321-271NX, ZK-NNA, operated by Air NZ |
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| Airbus A321-271NX, ZK-NNG, operated by Air NZ |
This image from last weekend is of an Australian-registered, but New Zealand-based, Bombardier CL-600-2B16, VH-BLM and is operated by BC Aviation Ltd of an Auckland address. I think these are great looking aircraft, even if getting a little old these days.
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| Bombardier CL600-2B16, VH-BLM, operated by BC Aviation |
As followers of aviation in NZ will know, the only local operator of the Boeing 757 is the Royal New Zealand Air Force [RNZAF].
The RNZAF operate two of these aircraft in a quick change configuration, enabling them to transport crew and freight as needs arise. The cargo door is located between the first and second passenger doors, as seen in this photo of NZ7571 departing Wellington.
Interestingly, there has been a bit of publicity recently about the kiwi roundels, with it being the 50th anniversary of the introduction of the current version with the bright red kiwi in the middle. This aircraft shows that off quite nicely.
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| Boeing 757-2K2, NZ7571, operated by the RNZAF |
