Auckland trip #1: Overview

A month or so ago, I took the opportunity to book some cheap-ish airfares to Auckland for a quick weekend holiday and catch-up with some friends from Auckland Aero Club [AAC] and Mountainside church from when I lived in Auckland 3 years ago.

I've got a bunch of photos from Auckland International and Ardmore airports which I'll share over the next few days, but for a start, here are a couple of photos of "iconic" Auckland scenes [the CBD and Skytower and Rangitoto Island] taken from Mount Wellington. The other photo is of Rob's Patisserie in Ponsonby.

Rob [of Rob's Patisserie] is a good mate with whom I did some formation flying at AAC a few years ago. He's also a Thunder Mustang pilot, world record holder for speed between Auckland and Christchurch international airports and baker! Rob, Helena and the team are well worth a visit if you're in Auckland. They also make awesome hot cross buns - very tasty, lots of fruit and a good price [thanks Rob!].

More aviation photos will be in the next post, but thanks to everyone who made me welcome in Auckland again! It was definitely good to catch up!

Kapiti Aero Club PA28-180 Archer

Here's a picture of a Kapiti Aero Club Piper PA28-180 Archer. Being a "-180", ZK-DFL has the "Hershey" [slab] wing.

If you look at the sky, you'll notice that it was a much nicer day today than even yesterday [which was pretty good!].

Simulated Instrument Flying - Safety Pilot

I got to go flying today, although nothing to log. I got the chance to act as a "safety pilot" for another pilot conducting some simulated instrument flying. It is actually quite awesome to be able to sit there, and, to an extent relax and enjoy the view! Obviously, there's also the requirement to be the "eyes" for the flight, and so keeping a good lookout is critical [and self-preservation is a wonderful incentive!].

It was a fantastic, smooth day for a flight, and so it was all rather uneventful. It's a bit weird looking out and giving instructions... turn this way or that way, climb, descend etc instead of being a passive passenger or the pilot, but I did enjoy myself.

Here are the best of a few photos that I got. The first is looking north up the Wairarapa valley, the second towards to south-east of Palliser Bay. The last is a photo of an Interislander ferry at the harbour entrance on the way back to Wellington. Note the smooth, clear water.

All in all, a very enjoyable flight. Thanks Rochelle!

Today's Wellington Visitors

Here are a few of today's visiting aircraft. The first is Cessna 152 ZK-NPN, registered to New Plymouth Aero Club. The Cessna 172M, ZK-JIB is registered to Nelson Aero Club. Piper PA28-161, ZK-FTR is operated by Air Hawkes Bay Ltd from Hastings airfield. ZK-JCW is a Cessna 180K registered to Canterbury Aviation Ltd.

Lastly, there are a couple of pictures of Robinson R44 Raven II, ZK-IJR, firstly parked up, then hover-taxiing for departure.

* WELLINGTON AERO CLUB * AVIATION OPEN DAY *

Interested in flying?

Come along and see what we offer and take a closer look at aircraft spanning more than 60 years. Find out how easy it is to actually fly a plane. Sit in the pilots seat and talk with aero club members who will explain how the planes fly.

Displays include: Air New Zealand Boeing 737, plus Jetstream, Corsair, Dash 8, Arrow, Archer, Saratoga and many more! Trial flights and Helicopter joy rides available.

Saturday 4 April
10am - 4pm

Admission: Gold Coin Donation

Wellington Aero Club
Wellington International Airport
246 Coutts Street
Kilbirnie
(opposite side of the airport from the main terminal)

Tel: 04 3888 444
http://www.flywellington.co.nz/
wnaero@flywellington.co.nz

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.

PA-31 and B200

There was nothing much happening at the Aero Club this weekend [flying wise anyway] due to the weather. I did however manage to get a couple of photos. The first is a Royal New Zealand Air Force Beech B200 King Air. The second and third pictures are of a Piper PA-31 Navajo registered to Air Manawatu. ZK-JGA is used as an air ambulance.

The only other picture I got was of a certain weather forecaster/guru, who also has a CPL, working towards a C-Cat instructor rating, seated in the front seat of the pope-mobile. This person made me promise that I would not publish the photo, so you will just have to guess who she is [BTW - thanks for the cake!]!

Piper PA-31 from Air2There

Here are some photos of an Air2There.com Piper PA-31, ZK-WHW, at Wellington.

What may be interesting is the installation of winglets. I don't recall seeing of PA-31's with winglets before. They sure look good though!

SEEK and you will find.

Here are photos of two mid-week lighties visiting Wellington. The first is a Cessna R182. ZK-ETX is registered to Professional Colour Laboratories Ltd - no idea where in the country though.

The second is a little more exotic. G-SEEK is a Cessna T210N registered to a Shelford, Cambridge, UK address. I seem to recall that it is tripping around the world, although it seems to have been in New Zealand for a while now. If anyone has more details, please leave a comment :-)

Thank you to Chris for these photos!

More visitors

Here are a couple more photos from the weekend.

Firstly, another one of ZK-HZN, an Aerospatiale AS 350BA rescue helicopter which has made a few trips in recently. Apparantly we can expect to see a few more rescue helicopters landing at Wellington as single-engined helicopters are no longer permitted to use the hospital roof-top heliport, except in an emergency [as distinct from a regular patient transport trip].

The second aircraft is ZK-MAP, a Cessna 402B, registered to a Nelson address.

Today's visitors

Here are a couple of today's visitors to Wellington. The first is a rescue helicopter. ZK-HZN is an Aerospatiale AS 350BA and I think this is operated by Helicopters Services (BOP) Ltd for the Phillips Search and Rescue Trust, based in Tauranga or Taupo.

ZK-EQS is a Piper Warrior PA28-161 and was previously based at Wellington Aero Club, albeit with quite a different paint scheme [this one is much nicer :-)]. I flew this aircraft to Nelson and remember it as a nice aircraft that was a pleasure to fly.

Finally, ZK-KAP is a Partenavia P68C and based with Kapiti Aero Club [at Paraparaumu airfield]. The aircraft was flown down [a 20 or so minute flight each way] for a 1 hour stop over by another Wellington Aero Club member.

Canadair Challenger 604 at Wellington

As reported on MRC Aviation, a Canadair Challenger 604 visited Wellington in the last week, on route to Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. OE-INP is an Austrian registered aircraft. Thanks to "spotter-in-training" :-) Chris for the photos!

The aircraft is spotted exiting the runway at Whiskey 2 on to the western apron.

Waitangi Weekend #6: The end of a perfect day

Well, it's Sunday, so the end of a perfect long weekend and back to work tomorrow morning.

I decided that I needed to go for a fly today, so I booked our Piper PA28-181 Archer, ZK-TDJ. With the weather reportably not too good to the north-west, and no one to come along for the ride anyway, I decided to just do a few circuits.

The surface wind was almost straight down the runway [just a slight crosswind from the right from time to time], 20 knots, gusting up to around 30 knots. It was very busy at one point [so I got good again at orbiting...!], but I managed to get a few circuits in - normal and short approaches, flaps and flapless and enough wind to keep it interesting. Just what I needed to eradicate a bit of rust while still enjoying myself :-) It was very hot in the cockpit though.

After all that, what better way to end the day than a quiet drink at the Club bar? None as far as I can tell! Now all I need is a large donation so I can buy into a Nanchang syndicate :-) ha ha!

Waitangi Weekend #5: More planes spotted

I spotted a number of aircraft at and around Wellington today. The first picture is another of the NZ Post/Airwork Boeing 737-219QC, ZK-NQC parked up at Wellington.

The second are two photos of a Royal New Zealand Air Force [RNZAF] Lockheed P3K Orion during an overshoot where it seemed to be well left of the centre line, almost over the aero club [which makes for interesting photos :-)].

The last two photos are of an Australian registered Convair 440/580, VH-PAL of Pionair arriving at Wellington.

Waitangi Weekend #4: I flew the Nanchang!!

Today was a fantastic day! Not only was the sun shining all day, the wind wasn't too strong [around 20 knots when I finally got up], but I got to go up for a flight in the Nanchang CJ6, ZK-CVI. AWESOME!

It's a bit weird being in the back seat [instead of right next to the instructor], and it's even weirder when almost every instrument is labelled in a foreign language and often using different measurements [metric instead of imperial]!

The flight consisted of a quick scenic over the CBD [the "Caketin" Westpac stadium looked busy with the rugby sevens], then a quick doddle around the Hutt Valley before returning to land.

Here's another picture of ZK-CVI from yesterday.