Air Chathams Convair

There was no flying for me today, but parked up outside the aero club is this Air Chathams owned and operated General Dynamics Allison Convair 440/580, ZK-CIF.

Masterton and back

I was not expecting to fly today, but when the opportunity came up to head over to Masterton with another pilot and to fly back, I decided to take it. We headed over in Wellington Aero Club's Piper PA28-161, ZK-MBG.

Masterton itself is is a "large" rural town about 45 minutes flight time [in a light aircraft] to the north-east of Wellington and is a great place to visit for often un-congested skies, a nice airfield and with the possibility of seeing some fairly exotic aircraft from time to time. Nothing exotic was seen today but it was a nice flight anyway.

Photos are [top to bottom]the Rimutaka Ranges [including the Rimutaka Hill Rd] as we crossed towards Masterton, a couple of Masterton aerodrome as we joined to circuit and one of the aircraft. The final photo is of a Cessna 172S, ZK-NAV, registered to Nelson Aviation College, which was visiting Wellington.

Peter Jackson's Gulfstream G650 and my flying...

... no, not me flying in the G650 :-)

Today's picture is my first of Peter Jackson's new Gulfstream G650, and the latest aircraft to carry the ZK-KFB registration marks. The aircraft is registered to Execujet and is based at Execujet's Wellington facility. The photo's not the greatest, but I'm sure I'll get better in the near future.

In other news, I went flying today in the aero club's Piper PA28-161, ZK-MBG. Today was just a chance for some dual [ie: with an instructor] practice at the manoeuvres I'll need to demonstrate for my BFR [Biennial Flight Review] which is due next month. Manoeuvres included turns, stalls, a forced landing, low flying and some circuits. Awesome fun!

Mid week update: something a little different from Japan

Here are a couple of photos of an Airbus A320-214, JA808P, of Peach Aviation, a low cost carrier based in Japan. These photos were taken at Osaka and Naha Airport, Okinawa [ICAO: ROAH] earlier this year in August.

I think you'll agree that the livery is pretty awesome - especially compared to the some of the more common liveries we tend to see in New Zealand. Thanks to John for sending them in!

Extra post: RAAF and RNZAF Boeings

A big thank you to Jack G for sending me this picture of an RAAF Boeing 737-7DF (BBJ) and an RNZAF B757-2K2 parked up at Wellington last Thursday [3 October 2013].

The identity of the B737 appears to be A36-002 and the B757, NZ7572 [thank you Roy for the update].

Central Hawkes Bay Aero Club visitors

In addition to the Australian Falcon 2000EX in my last post, there were some light aircraft visitors to Wellington today.

The two most interesting one were from the Central Hawkes Bay Aero Club, a Cessna C172P, ZK-FGJ
Cessna A152, ZK-ETJ. These two aircraft and the six occupants came for a visit including some airport facilities.

The last visitor was a Piper PA28-151, ZK-TGF, which is registered to an Auckland address.

Australian Falcon visitor

Today's exotic visitor was this Australian registered Dassault-Aviation Falcon 2000EX, VH-KRW and registered to a company called Brenzil Pty Ltd of a Queensland, Australia address.

I can't seem to find anything much out about the company [google search etc], except they are involved in finance and investment services and maybe some loan brokerage, so if anyone know anything more or why it was here, I'd love to know.

Anyway, here are the pictures. Enjoy!

Air NZ's new A320 livery and flying comps!

Today was a chance to see Air New Zealand's latest [and I understand, "permanent"] livery on the first aircraft to carry it - an Airbus A320-232, ZK-OXB.

The aircraft has only been flying in this livery for a couple of days, so this is one of its early visits in this livery*.

In other news, I'll be competing in the Flying NZ regional competitions in late November. Like past years, this will be the PPL Low Flying competition, so it's time to start practicing hard! Expect to hear more on this over the next few weeks!

* post updated to reflect that this was not the first visit of the aircraft. For more photos look at the MRC Aviation Blog

A Cessna 650 is parked up at Wellington

Today's picture is of a Cessna 650, N163JM, parked up at Wellington on the western apron apron outside the Execujet hanger [not in view in this picture...!].

Gulfstream American GA7

Here are two more photos of the Gulfstream American GA7, ZK-CGR, which is registered to a Wellington address.

Local flight to Palliser Bay and Castlepoint

Yesterday the weather was fantastic, today not quite so good. Today was windier but it was good enough today that I could go for a local flight to Palliser Bay and around to Castlepoint with Megan and Matiu along for the ride. Today's aircraft was the Aero Club's Piper PA28-161, ZK-MBG.

We had a brisk southerly, but that was no problem since we were able to stay south of most hills and so missed the bumps. This was a big bonus because the only sick bags on board were clear plastic bags, and I was not wanting to see any stomach contents... In the end nobody needed to use one of the bags, so that's a good result :-)

I didn't take any photos of the flight, but Megan has kindly sent me some of hers. The first is a certain cool dude, all suited up in a lifejacket and about to get on board, approaching Turakirae Head on the way back and lastly, big smiles at the end of the flight!

BTW - best question of the day... "Do we have parachutes?". Sorry, but no...

An awesome day... so I'm flying tomorrow :-)

Despite the weather being the best in a long time, I didn't go flying today, but I am getting up and about tomorrow; at least the weather looks nice enough and if it's as good as it has been today, it'll be fantastic :-)

Not exactly sure where I'll go, but I might pop up for a look at Kapiti Island or back across to the Marlborough Sounds for a look at some of the areas I missed last weekend... we'll see. Hopefully I'll have someone along for the ride, but we'll see.

Anyway, here are today's photos. First up are a Piper PA31, ZK-MJF, registered to the Taranaki Air Ambulance Trust and a Diamond DA42, ZK-CTH, registered to CTC Aviation Training of Hamilton.

Next up are the airliners. Top to bottom we have:

Airbus A320-232, ZK-OJC of Air New Zealand
Boeing 737-8FE, ZK-PBJ, of Virgin Australia Airlines (NZ)
Airbus A320-232, VH-VQC, of Jetstar Airways

Flight over the Marlborough Sounds

I went for a nice scenic flight over part of the Marlborough Sounds today. You'll see from the photos that the weather looked awesome, although with the gentle breeze around, there was a bit of turbulence at times. all fun though - nothing too jarring.

The photos sum it up pretty nicely... I'm sure you will agree that it's an incredibly scenic part of the country and it's one I always enjoy flying over. Top to bottom we have:

Most of the eastern shoreline of Awatapu Island
Northern part of Awatapu Iasland looking south-west towards Queen Charlotte Sound
Queen Charlotte Sound looking towards Picton
[Foreground left to right] Awatapu Island, Long Island, Motuara Island looking south-west
Southern portion of of Port Gore
Airstrip in Port Gore
Looking east towards Wellington on the Sinclair Arrival procedure

Two "new" aircraft

Two more aircraft to photograph today. The first is a Gulfstream American GA-7 Cougar, ZK-CGR, which is newly resident in Wellington [previously the North Shore Aero Club]. I have photographed this aircraft a couple of times, but now I hope to get some decent photos when it is flying out and about.

The second is the newest addition to the Sounds Air fleet, a Cessna C208B Grand Caravan, ZK-SAY. This aircraft was previously registered ZK-MJL with Salt Air but was sold to Sounds Air earlier this year.

Admin: Rodney's Aviation Ramblings updated to include Flightradar24.com data!

This post is to advise that Rodney's Aviation Ramblings has been updated to include a new "Flight Radar" page!

The "Flight Radar" page uses the Flightradar24.com service to display ADS-B equipped traffic in NZ airspace. Flightradar24.com is also available as a free app for Android and iOS, and is one of the few apps that I have found worthwhile enough to pay for the "pro" version.

You can link directly to the new page at http://flyinggeek.blogspot.co.nz/p/flight-radar.html.