Part Aeroplane, Part Banana

Here's a picture of a Partenavia P68 [not sure if it's a B or C model] that was parked at Wellington outside the Aero Club recently. This particular aircraft [I missed the rego] is operated by Air New Plymouth.

The Partenavia is also affectionately [???] known as the Part Banana. I believe this is in reference to the shape of the lower fuselage, which, if you are somewhat inebriated, may appear slightly banana shaped.

The Partenavia has a reputation as a fairly easy to fly twin, and is therefore popular as an initial twin trainer. Obviously, like any twin [or any aircraft for that matter] the P68 can and will "bite" if abused.

Wellington Scenic

I had the pleasure of accompanying a pilot today as a safety pilot [CAR Part 91.125] while the PIC [Pilot in Command] was practising his instrument flying [simulated of course!]. In order to keep things safe we flew to somewhere that was open and unobstructed [over the water to the north west of Wellington] and the PIC practised some turns [DI and compass], climbs and descents before heading back.

In between spending a lot of time with my eyes outside and providing some headings for the pilot to fly, I managed to get some reasonable photos of the places we flew.

Top to bottom are:

Mana Island from the north

Mana Island from the west, looking towards Paremata

Petone/Lower Hutt looking towards Wellington City [center, background]

Moa Point rocks [right base for runway 34]

Moa Point looking toward runway 34

Westpac Rescue Helicopter

This is a picture of the Wellington based Westpac Rescue Helicopter spooling up for departure. The picture is a little faded as it was shot through the old perspex of a Piper Tomahawk as we taxied past [I was a pax on this flight].

This chopper is a Kawasaki BK117 B-2, and is equiped specifically for rescue/medivac operations.

Convair 580 at Wellington

The Convair 580 is an awesome looking beast. Everything about it looks large. It sits well off the ground, seems to have long wings, it has two big turboprop engines, and what can I say about those props??!!! I'm not sure that they would be that efficient, but they are large! There's not much ground clearance on the props, so this would have to be a beast for fairly smooth runways and taxiways only. Convairs are also noisy and smokey [nice!] - just a shame it was not starting up while I was there!

This particular example is still doing ATO's [Air Transport Operations] around New Zealand and is operated by Pionair Adventures Ltd.

The first picture shows off the wingspan of this magnificent aircraft. The second is a front-quarter view and the third is a closeup of the nose and those huge paddles [note the prop ground clearance]!

Immaculate PA-18 Super Cub

I went out to the Aero Club this afternoon, not expecting to be flying [The C172 was away with other Club aircraft in Hokitika], but also not expecting to see this: An immaculate Piper PA-18 Super Cub which had stopped off for a short time on it's way from Omaka to Masterton.

I briefly spoke with the owner, who says that this example has about 12 hours on the clock since a complete refurbish. The aircraft was immaculate inside and out, down to the smallest details. Even the instrumentation was all new so obviously no expense spared! Fantastic!

All done

I completed the paperwork today for my BFR, so that's been signed off for another 2 years.

Yippee :-)

RNZAF Boeing 757 at Wellington

This is a quick video of an RNZAF [Royal New Zealand Air Force] Boeing 757 landing at Wellington. The B757 is a largest type to regularly operate into Wellington.

BFR almost done and an Aerospatiale AS 355 F1

I went up for the flying component of the BFR [Biennial Flight Review] today, and it all went well enough.

Actually, it's probably one of the very best FLWOP [Forced Landing With Out Power] exercises I've ever managed! The EFATO [Engine Failure After Takeoff] exercise that followed worked out well also. Perhaps I did not need to be quite so nervous about this flight? In addition to all this, we did a max performance takeoff, some turns, stalls, low flying, precautionary landing, followed by rejoining the Wellington circuit, some circuit work [including flapless landing and precision approach and landing] as well as some other bits and pieces.

Now just the paperwork to finish off tomorrow...

Anyway, before the BFR I got a snap of this Aerospatiale AS 355 F1 departing Wellington.

An online game

Click the link for an online copter game. Rules are simple - left-click for up, release for down. Don't hit anything!

Very addictive!

http://www.hurtwood.demon.co.uk/Fun/copter.swf

A neat Wellington aviation site

I was out at the aero club this afternoon, sitting around doing very little [mainly cruising YouTube for aeroplane videos...] when one of the members pointed out a site he runs: http://www.wellingtoncam.com/.

I checked it out and this site includes streaming video of Wellington International Airport, and a live Tower frequency feed. Awesome! You may require a couple of plugins to be installed, but this should not be too big a hassle. Check it out.

http://www.wellingtoncam.com/

World's smallest twin engined aircraft?

Well, with a human pilot, almost certainly yes!

Here is a video from YouTube of the Cri Cri, a small twin engined, human piloted, aircraft, built and flown by an Air New Zealand B747 pilot. This video was taken at an airshow in New Zealand, and contains some interesting stats about the aircraft and it's performance. Enjoy!

Cessna 421C Golden Eagle

This picture is of a Cessna 421C Golden Eagle that was parked outside of Wellington Aero Club earlier today for refueling and a quick break for the pilot. It is operated by Air Manawatu as an air ambulance. I've never been inside a 421 before, but the pilot showed us in and pointed out some of the neat stuff in the cockpit.

The GPS unit [an Apollo MX20] was particularly interesting, with a very clear display, map overlays, terrain warning etc. The back of the airplane is equiped for a single patient and seating for medical staff.

No BFR

Surface wind 25 gusting 40 knots kinda explains it all...

More practice

Went up this morning and the weather was fantastic. A slight breeze [5-6 knots], and smooth flying conditions. There was a lot of low cloud around the southern Wairarapa area, but the holes were vastly more than what I needed to do some practice. Another aircraft that was operating 3-4 miles east of me later reported seeing whales in Palliser Bay.

I managed 3 FLWOP exercises, a basic and an advanced stall, many turns [rate 1 through to steep/45 degrees AoB] before heading back to Wellington for a few circuits.

All in all, a fun day in the sky. I'll have to work hard at those turns [steep turns are a bit rusty], but my FLWOP and stalls seem to be OK. Circuits are OK also.

My BFR is scheduled for tomorrow [Sunday] afternoon, but it looks as though the weather is getting worse, so maybe it will have to be in a week or two instead.

BFR time

I'm almost due for my BFR [Biennial Flight Review], so instead of a normal scenic I went up and did some practice. With a fight of just under an hour I managed two simulated FLWOP [Forced Landings With Out Power], a few turns and a couple of circuits.

Next Saturday I've got another flight. Hopefully I'll have time get all that in plus steep turns and some stalls. After that I should be ready for the BFR flight. Well see!

Anyway, here's a picture of an Ardmore Flying School C172R visiting Wellington Aero Club on its way to Christchurch. The C172R has a 160hp fuel injected engine and like all later model C172's flap is limited to 30 degress max. Vfe (10 degrees) is 110 knots with the remainder limited to 85 knots. I guess I kinda like the 'R' model as I did my C172 rating on this model a few years ago.